


Love Gun

by DaintyKeith



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Action & Romance, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Flirting, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Foreign Language, Green Commonwealth, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, Non American Sole Survivor, One-Sided Attraction, Past Relationship(s), Possible Character Death, Romance, Slow Burn, Smoker - Freeform, Smoking, mysterious female sole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:55:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 28,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25587874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaintyKeith/pseuds/DaintyKeith
Summary: MacCready gets hired by one, if not the most mysterious woman of the Commonwealth.No name, no talking. MacCready didn't even know her name or voice but there were two things he could be certain about that peculiar job: he would be handsomely paid and that his boss carried a heavy past on her shoulders and hid it away in the depths of her heart.MacCready had a policy of not making questions, but it wouldn't be long until he would drown in a sea of questions.
Relationships: Robert Joseph MacCready/Female Sole Survivor, Robert Joseph MacCready/Sole Survivor
Comments: 21
Kudos: 33





	1. It's Not Unusual

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Keith here. This is my first time publishing here on AO3, hope you enjoy it! You can leave a comment or a kudo if you liked what you read, it motivates me to keep writing. 
> 
> I have an instagram (@Dainty.keith) and a wattpad account (@Daintykeith) where I'm publishing a story in spanish. 
> 
> Thank you so much for clicking, bye! (❁´◡`❁)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Look, kid. If you are going about the Atom, or looking for a friend, you’ve got the wrong guy.” He remarked uninterested. “But if you are looking for a hired gun… then maybe we can talk.”
> 
> MacCready got up from the chair and left the drink on the table next to him. He noticed how small and slim she was compared to him, almost feeling like he could easily hold her.
> 
> The young lady opened and looked inside the many of the pockets of her light armor searching for something. She took a paper that was carefully folded and then she handed it to MacCready lay open. 
> 
> He took it gently and read it. In a simple handwriting, the letter said: “I want to hire you.”

He was laying comfortably in one of the VIP room chairs with both of his hands on the back of his head. “ _Caps…_ ” he thought, “ _that’s what I need right now._ ”

The room was wide and with no one except for himself, tranquil under the warm lights on the walls and ceiling. From where he was, he could clearly hear Magnolia’s beautiful voice, singing jazz as usual. He passed his thumb through the rifle that rested by the side of his chair, close to him. He thought about getting a drink to let the time pass by and wait, but he reminded himself he was on business.

“Can’t do that right now, _MacCready_.” He muttered to himself.

Even if he didn’t take a drink like he would always do, that day was like any other; waiting for caps to roll in—or so he assumed.

“Can’t say I’m surprised to find you in a dump like this, MacCready.” A man said while walking into the room.

It was no other than Winlock accompanied by Barnes. Both walked their way to MacCready and took a menacing posture towards him.

“I was wondering how long it would take your bloodhounds to track me down, Winlock.” He started with an annoyed smile.

MacCready knew the Gunners wouldn’t stop being on his tail. Not while he was taking jobs. But he had no choice, he would fight his way through if he had to, but even himself thought it was rare to not see them for a while now—really unusual.

“It’s been almost three months… don’t tell me _you’re getting rusty_.” He mocked while slowly approaching his rifle with his right hand, preparing himself “. Perhaps, should we take this outside?” MacCready asked while steadily gazing Winlock in the eyes.

“It ain’t like that. I’m just here to deliver a message,’ Winlock replied.

“In case you forgot, I left the Gunners _for good_.” He hissed.

“Yeah. I heard. But you still are taking jobs in the Commonwealth. That _isn’t_ going to work for us.”

MacCready wasn’t going to have it. “I don’t take orders from you…”

He remembered the days he served as a Gunner, when the money was good but not the things they did for it. A word that fitted those memories perfectly was no other than “shame”; the shame he felt for the things he had done.

“not anymore,” he continued. “So why don’t you take your girlfriend and walk out of here while you still can.”

“What?” Barnes whimpered in displeasure “. Winlock, tell me we don’t have to listen to this shit…”

MacCready stood up from his chair and faced Winlock. He wanted them to leave at that moment if possible.

“Listen up, MacCready. The only reason we haven’t filled your body with bullets is that we don’t want a war with Goodneighbor” Winlock grunted “. See, we respect other people’s boundaries… we know how to play the game, something _you_ never learnt.”

MacCready smiled and crossed his arms. “Glad to have disappointed you.”

Winlock chuckled a little and dedicated him a menacing glance. “You can play the tough guy all you want, but if we hear you’re still operating inside Gunner territory, all bets are off. You got that?”

MacCready clenched his jaw and furrowed his brows. His chest puffed and his hands were closed in a tight fist.

“You finished?” He questioned with a mad and daring look in his eyes.

“Yeah… We are finished. Come on, Barnes.”

MacCready watched them leave through the door with heavy steps. That was their last warning. Then, he sank into his comfortable chair and decided to ask for a drink, which he surely needed to relax. He softly swayed the drink in his hand and took a sip from it.

As he continued his drink, someone approached him across the room: a young lady. Perhaps she was lost, he thought. She looked far too young to request his service, but as long as she had money everything could be handled.

She had short black hair and long bangs that fell behind her ears, and as his gaze went further into her, more he found mesmerizing and magical. Her eyes seamlessly looked like they had been shaped by knives and their irises were a beautiful pitch-black color, her scar-less skin was pale like pre-war porcelain and it looked beautiful with the blue vault-suit covered in great green armor. A vault-dweller.

But again, he wouldn’t have it. Certainly, she wanted something from him he didn’t have.

“Look, kid. If you are going about the Atom, or looking for a friend, you’ve got the wrong guy.” He remarked uninterested. “But if you are looking for a hired gun… then maybe we can talk.”

MacCready got up from the chair and left the drink on the table next to him. He noticed how small and slim she was compared to him, almost feeling like he could easily hold her.

The young lady opened and looked inside the many of the pockets of her light armor searching for something. She took a paper that was carefully folded and then she handed it to MacCready lay open.

He took it gently and read it. In a simple handwriting, the letter said: _“I want to hire you._ ”

He smiled. “I’ll tell you what. The price is 250 caps… up front, no bargai—”, and suddenly he was interrupted when she threw him a small and heavy bag.

He caught it on the air and felt the sharp ends of some kind of metal. As he opened the bag, he saw a large amount of caps in it and instantly knew it was more than he asked—it was almost the double, probably more. He frowned in confusion.

After she knew with certainty that he checked the bag, she handed him another letter. “ _600 caps… up front.”_ It said.

He walked around the room, thinking. “ _How dangerous is the job if she is paying me this much?_ ” was one of the many thoughts he had. He crossed his arms and kept wandering around the room to ponder. All he could imagine is that the job was seriously risky that he could die while accomplishing—something he definitely couldn’t afford, but the money was worth the risk, for _Duncan_.

Another question that came to his wondering mind was another simple but important question: _Who is she?_ A vault-dweller usually knows little to nothing about the world but most importantly, a dweller would never be alone and wouldn’t have that much money.

McCready when he stopped and looked at her again, he noticed the tip of a colorful tattoo on her neck that was hidden behind the blue vault-suit. It seemed like ocean waves; he wasn’t really sure about it. She didn’t feel from this world.

“So… What’s the job?”

So much paper. The lady gave her another piece of paper with something written on it, demonstrating her prior preparation for this situation.

“ _Work for me. I need an extra hand in the Commonwealth. That’s all. You’re in?_ ” 

MacCready stared at the letter for some time. 600 caps up front. He couldn’t let her pay so much, he knew real’ well how someone could need a lot of caps to get something they need or want. His morals told him to be fair, even if he needed them too.

MacCready gave her the bag back. “It’ll be 300 caps then. No bargaining.”


	2. The mysterious lady, who is she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Keith here. You can leave a comment or a kudo if you liked what you read, it motivates me to keep writing.
> 
> I have an instagram (@Dainty.keith) and a wattpad account (@Daintykeith) where I'm publishing a story in spanish.
> 
> Thank you so much for clicking, bye! (❁´◡`❁)

Her eyes showed surprise and a rare magical glimpse, something he had only seen once a long time ago. She quickly caught the bag with her small hands and nervously looked for a pocket to store it.

The lady took a piece of paper and a pencil from her small pocket on the lower parts of her right leg and went to the nearby table to then write something on it. He took a few steps to her side and leaned in curiosity to see what she was doing.

McCready’s dark blue eyes were placed on her delicate hands and her unusual way of holding her pencil. Everything about her made him feel that she was no ordinary woman and neither a common vault-dweller.

Curiosity was itching its way through his heart, a phenomenon he hadn’t felt before in his life. He wanted to learn, to know who she was. But deeply, he knew that between all those emotions he couldn’t trust her. Whenever she wanted, she could sell him out to the Gunners or put him to rest with a gun on his back—and he could also do that if he wanted. Why all the trust to a single man for this kind of job?

But it really didn’t matter. A job done for a fair amount of caps; a business relationship. He needed to find the right doctor, one that could cure his son, and also to focus on getting the Gunners off his tail.

The Vault-dweller handed him the letter. “ _Let’s work together, shall we? For now, I just need you to be the “intimidating” guy behind my back. My appearance tends to trick people into believing something I’m not, and I’m sick of it._ ”

Then, if she isn’t what others may think, _who is she?_ She hadn’t said her name even once, but he had a policy of not asking questions—it’s easier that way. But he couldn’t help feeling curious about her.

This job wasn’t like the usual ones he got in Goodneighbor, but he definitely could give a use the money that came with it. He knew for a fact that if she was willing to pay 600 hundred caps there were two things for certain: she lived a dangerous life and that he would get paid _really_ handsomely. And it was just a bodyguard job that didn’t _necessarily_ involve killing anyone, just intimidating them.

He grabbed the bottle of whiskey and swallowed the remains of it and cleaned his lips with the back of his hand. “Are ya’ ready to head out, _boss?_ ” he said with a grin.

He had so many unanswered questions that would remain unsaid, but all he could ever do was to ponder about the name of the lady with pitch-black eyes and her hidden tattoo.

☼●●●☼

They were at a vault, which number he could not remember, clearing out some fancy triggerman wearing black tall hats, neckties and all the extravagant package. They were looking for Nick Valentine, the famed detective of Diamond City that got himself in a jam while looking for a young woman kidnapped by Skinny Malone, tracking him down in Park Street Station.

MacCready knew Skinny Malone from Goodneighbor. Malone had had a small gang until he took over the vault in Park Street Station; since then, he found good loot and got a lot of heads quickly to work for him. And about his personality, his ego spoke more than his words. He was glad he left Goodneighbor with his pals, they used to bother him in his shop more than he would have liked to.

Early that morning, MacCready’s boss told Ellie Perkins, Nick Valentine’s secretary, that they would find and bring him back to Diamond City.

During the days they had worked together, he _mentally_ decided to refer to his boss as Bluebird, feeling it suited her pretty well. She hadn’t spoken a word since the day they met and yet she quietly sang death on the enemies that underestimated her, and her blue vault-suit was the flag she hoisted in every battle she fought. And he preferred to call her a name rather than just “you” or “boss” because he thought it was disrespectful.

They were sneaking past a few well-dressed triggermen that were having a nice conversation about chicks and the drinks they wanted to have, something that made MacCready remember how a few years ago he killed someone for a drink. Bluebird was grabbing her shotgun close to her chest like she felt something could come out of nowhere and shoot her, her eyes were wide open and she looked around like a wary mongrel.

When they left the triggermen far behind, MacCready tapped Bluebird’s shoulder from behind. She flinched and pointed her gun towards him and almost pulled the trigger when he quickly moved her shotgun to another side. “woah, woah. Boss, _calm down_.”

Her pitch-black eyes exposed the fear she felt. MacCready placed his hand on Bluebird’s and looked at her in the eyes. “You need to relax,” he said, trying to soothe her. “At this rate you are going to kill me. Look me in the eyes and breath.”

Bluebird closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, his deep blue eyes found hers like a dark door to her soul.

They could have entered the place killing every person they saw with the minigun she had, but MacCready knew by experience that if she could avoid killing, she would without doubting. Every time she killed, there was this resentful emotion in her gaze that he could not erase from his mind; he understood that stare, he himself had it every time he remembered his past.

He wondered who she was. Who she was under the layers that the wasteland had built up in her. But he remembered his policy: no questions.

“Let me go first.” He requested, “Take care of my back, won’t ya?”

Bluebird stood still while he crouched by MacCready passed by her side. “And hey, I wanted to give you this. It’ll help you” and he gave her some shotgun ammo.

He heard her sigh behind him and they both walked their way through the vault, hiding from the triggerman and any other traps that they could find along the way. They kept sneaking until they made it to the floor over the cafeteria.

It took them some time to adjust to the bare lightning in the place. The long tables on the floor below and all the boxes scattered around were a mess, broken and thrown apart; they could see a man looking through a circular window before them. He was chatting with whoever was on the other side.

“Good morning, Valentine.” The mysterious man greeted, “Feeling hungry?”

There was their target.

They hid behind a pillar near the stairs that led to the third floor to hear the situation. MacCready asked himself if he should shoot the stranger in his head so that they could get Nick Valentine and get out of the vault as soon as possible, but Bluebird seemed to have other plans.

Bluebird rested her back on the pillar and let herself fall to the floor. She was exhausted. They hadn’t had a decent night of rest for about four nights in a row; clearing out their way to Diamond City and taking any jobs they could to gain caps clearly was tiresome. MacCready was tired too and sat next to her.

After looking at Bluebird, he noticed that she was somehow used to this rhyme of work like it wasn’t her first time. To that point, it was no wonder how she could pay 600 caps for a hired gun.

“Boss, do you want me to kill that guy over there?” He said referring to the one having a stirring conversation with Nick Valentine, “we find Valentine and get out of here, the sooner we get out of here the better. I could use a drink right now.”

She slowly nodded and closed her eyes. Her face was turning red and started to heavily sweat; worried, MacCready placed the back of his hand on her forehead to check on her temperature. She was burning hot.

They needed to treat her as soon as possible.

“Dam- I mean, crap. This isn’t the best place to get sick, boss.”

MacCready took his marksman’s rifle and pointed it towards the stranger.

“…Three strikes? In the black book? But I never…” And his talking was interrupted by MacCready’s shot in his head. The stranger quietly fell to the floor and his blood spread wide across the metallic floor. He was dead.

MacCready checked once again on Bluebird and gave her a stimpak. “This should do for now, let’s go boss.”

Once her face looked pale as usual, they ran over to the third floor and looked over the window. There was a metallic man, whose circuits could be seen over the sides of his face and neck, and had glowing yellow eyes. That was Nick Valentine, the detective (and synth).

“Hey, you! I don’t know who you are, but we got three minutes before they realize muscle-for brains ain’t coming back. Get this door open.” Nick Valentine said with an expression that screamed “ _hurry or we are all dead_ ”.

Bluebird quickly surpassed the terminal’s security and opened the door to the small office where Nick Valentine was trapped in.

The detective lit the cigarette that was in his hands and placed it on his lips for a while. Even if he didn’t have lungs, he sure seemed to enjoy the act of imitating it. “Gotta love the irony of the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario.” He said “. Question is, why did our heroes risk life and limb for an old private eye.”

MacCready was behind Bluebird with his gun halted. Valentine was looking at him, but he cleared his throat and pointed the lady before him with his head, indicating him to focus on her. He wanted to answer Valentine’s question but he didn’t even know the reason they were there.

Bluebird took a letter out of her pocket as usual and gave it to Nick. He nodded while he was reading her note. “Well, I’ve done jobs with less.” he muttered to himself.

Nick gave her the letter back and adjusted his hat. “I’ve been cooped up here for weeks. Turns out the runaway daughter I came here to find wasn’t kidnapped. She’s Skinny Malone’s new flame, and she’s got a _mean streak_. Anyway, you got troubles, and I’m glad to help. But now ain’t the moment. Let’s blow this joint and then we’ll talk.”

Nick offered himself to lead them out of the vault.

“Malone’s crew here used to be small time, muscled out of the old neighborhood by bigger players. Until they found this place.” He explained while going down the stairs “. Don’t know what happened to the previous owners, but they’re not exactly around to charge rent. An empty vault.”

“ _Perfect hideout_.” MacCready thought to himself.

The three of them went down through other stairs that led to the first floor and moved across it until the voices of some triggermen were heard within the place. They took cover behind some big metallic boxes and looked at each other. 

“Do you happen to have an extra gun?” Nick asked in a whisper.

MacCready nodded and gave him a classic 10mm pistol, one of those that could be easily found around. “Your welcome,” he said.

MacCready stared at Bluebird waiting for her order. “What do you want me to do, boss?”

She made with her hands the symbol of a gun and imitated the recoil of it with a wide naughty smile on her lips. He returned a grin and prepared some bullets for his Marksman’s rifle. “That’s our sign, Nick”, he told Nick.

They looked at each other and peeped through the sides of the boxes looking for the triggermen. There were four triggermen with pipe pistols with glowing sights, wandering through the sides of the room looking, searching for something thoroughly. They knew “muscle-for brains” was late.

“Dino! Where are you man?!” one of them screamed.

MacCready placed the barrel of his rifle on one of the edges of their hiding spot, looking through the scope as he aligned the sights on the head of the enemy. He positioned his hand on the trigger and took a deep breath so he wouldn’t miss the shot. “You ready there, Nick?” he questioned without losing sight of his target.

“Yes I am.”

He felt Bluebird’s tapping on his shoulder like she would always do when she meant to tell him she was ready to begin. He smiled and pulled the trigger.

When his target collapsed to the bloodstained floor, shots started to fly across the sides of the room. Nick was good as MacCready expected, but Bluebird was something he had never seen before. Her aiming, her accuracy and the grasp she had on her guns was something that did not feel human but instead mechanical, automatic.

The time they had been together revealed little to nothing about who she was or how she used to be before they met. Mysterious and quiet with magical eyes that mesmerized him every time he saw them. Following his policy costed him knots in his throat and an itchy curiosity in his heart that burnt like a fire that could not be taken out.

He should not be thinking about her. That’s not what he was being paid for. He was paid to be a gun, an extra hand and a “tough guy”; not to think.

Heavy steps were heard behind the door before them, the one they were supposed to go through, and opened loud and wide. More than 10 triggermen came through and opened fire without thinking twice.

“Fuc…” MacCready was about to curse when he remembered a promise, one he made some a long time ago to his son; “crap,” he corrected himself.

“We’re being surrounded,” Nick said while killing a triggerman.

MacCready rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Oh, are we?” he snapped sarcastically.

Bluebird was calmly shooting her objectives, fiercely taking down the ones that got closer to their hideout with her shotgun. It led MacCready to think she was used to fighting long hordes, that she probably had a hard childhood taking care of her vault. Maybe a guard!

In the haze of the moment, Bluebird caught a bullet in her leg. The blood flowed in large streams out of her body as she stumbled to the ground.

“Bluebird!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's a friendly reminder. All future culture references are merely fiction and are not to be taken seriously. It doesn't intent to offend anyone and neither to appropiate a culture (which is not yet revealed because i do not want to spoil the story). Thank you!


	3. Under the veil

MacCready’s deep blue eyes opened wide in shock and fear. His knees felt weak and his heart started to beat fast. The pitch-black eyes that stared at his reflected pain and how perplexed and confused she felt by how he called her. He ran to her side and caught her in his arms tightly, afraid of letting her go.

“You have to be more careful,” he told Bluebird, trying to not sound worried. He sat on the floor and fiercely looked at Nick “. Cover us, please” he said desperately.

Nick nodded and his movements became more aggressive, shooting at everything that attempted to come closer. MacCready carefully examined the wound on her leg and frantically checked his pockets in search of something that could be of help—a blood bag, a stimpak, some bandages or whatever! He just wanted a goddamn thing that could assist her. He found some old apple dandies, screws, pieces of clo…—that was it! Pieces of cloth!

He took some of those pieces and put them over Bluebird’s thigh. 

“You’ll be okay,” MacCready muttered repeatedly to himself.

His hands were shaking and his breath was agitated. He hadn’t felt fear in a long time, but then he wondered to himself “ _ why did he care for someone who didn’t even tell him her name?”  _ It was an only business relationship, the caps were the only tie that united them, was it?

“I’m gonna’ press here. It’s going to hurt.” He told her while looking her in the eyes, “after that, you gotta press it yourself there.”

MacCready placed together the pieces of cloth and put both of his calloused hands on them. He took a deep breath and proceeded to tightly press the wound, making her groan in pain. “There you go.” He said calming himself a little “, and take this stim’.”

He injected the stimpak on her leg and saw how slowly she began to relax her shoulders and the grasp on her wound. “Don’t let go,” he warned her. “You’ll soon start to feel better.”

He sighed and took his Marksman’s rifle. “Let’s get the show on the road!” He said with a wide grin. 

His eyes watched through the scope and shot every enemy that came nearby, hiding every now and then to dodge bullets.

“Almost there” said Nick with a noticeable fatigue while laying his back on the metallic boxes.

After the last man fell life-less to the floor, MacCready checked on Bluebird’s wound again. 

“Hangin’ in there, boss?” MacCready placed his arm on her back and hers on his shoulder and helped her get up. “Hold onto me.”

Nick had a mysterious gaze placed on them, like his mechanical brain was calculating or “ _ thinking _ ” about who they were, but MacCready didn’t pay too much attention to him; he was a machine after all.

“You look real’ bad.” Nick said worried while scratching his forehead.

MacCready rolled his eyes. “I don’t even know why she needs you, but get your as—” he corrected himself “… get moving”

He clearly didn’t want to just lurk around the bush, he wanted to get the job done and the caps. That was the reason MacCready was there after all, but then he looked at Bluebird’s delicate arm upon his shoulder and her face in pain; he couldn’t let her bleed out. Not when he wanted to know—NO! He reminded himself that the money in game was the reason for that mission.

MacCready acknowledged the great difference between her delicate shape and his robust body and it somehow amused him, but that was the same mistake that her enemies took as an advantage and ended up dead; a mistake he should not fall into. Her merciless fighting style reminded him of the Brotherhood of Steel, something that made a shiver run down his spine.

MacCready had never felt comfortable about Vaults. He knew from firsthand how dangerous they could be for wastelanders, especially when he used to live nearby one when he was a kid. But Bluebird was nothing compared to what he knew about them, however, that was the main reason he should be wary of her. It’s like wandering in the night—you could be walking straight to an ambush and you wouldn’t even know it. It was a magical but treacherous mystery. Deep down MacCready knew he couldn’t trust her at all, but there sure was something hypnotic about her.

They followed the exit signs throughout the messy vault without any further encounters, it seemed that most of the boys available were taken out back there.

“Skinny Malone and the rest of his boys are waiting for us, somewhere. The name’s uh, ironic, but don’t let that fool you.  _ He’s dangerous _ .” He emphasized when they were slowly going up the stairs carrying Bluebird before getting to the entrance of the vault—their exit.

They found a locked sliding door that blocked their way.

“I got it,” Nick said “. It’ll take a while to open it, take your time there to rest for a moment.”

Bluebird and MacCready moved to the side and laid down on the wall and sat together on the floor. Dark circles had appeared on her face and she was looking paler and he could see some of her blue veins.

“You need to hold up a bit more, boss.” He sighed while reaching out a stimpak from one of his pockets and examined her wound.

The wound wasn’t any better or worse, instead, it just slowly bled due to the walking they had done through all the vault. He furrowed his brows and told her to take a deep breath, “I’m going to inject some stim’ for you to move around, okay?” He continued.

Bluebird let a soft grin escape through her soft pink lips and then made an expression of pain when MacCready injected the stimpak. “Okay, you are going to get better.” He said while resting his head on the wall and looking at the roof, “It’d be better if you _actually_ _listened_ to what I say every now and then.”

Bluebird took a wrinkled letter from one of the many pockets on her hip and read it, like thinking what she should do with it. But she shook her head and took the paper back to its pocket, regretting she had taken it out in the first place. MacCready couldn’t help raising a brow and trying to read with curiosity what she held so tightly with her tiny hands, but as usual, he wouldn’t learn what it said.

The dark circles under her eyes seemed to slowly dissipate and her skin gained a bit of color; she was looking better. And damn, he felt really tired too. The nights they had spent doing jobs for caps definitively exhausted him, feeling his eyes heavy and his movements sloppier, but some nuka-cola quantum he found left him good as new in the morning. He took a bottle with purified water and drank half of it.

“You ready over there, Nick?” He groaned.

The sooner they were out of there, the better.

“Yes MacCready.” Nick answered “, let’s hope this is the last door.”

MacCready rubbed his eyes and stared at Bluebird. “Ready to head out, boss?” He tried to help her to stand up from the floor, but she refused his help with a fierce look and snapped his hand ferociously.

“ _ Don’t. _ ” Her gaze said.

Bluebird stood up by herself and slowly walked towards the sliding door with Nick, followed by MacCready from behind. They passed through the door and there were a few men standing next to a man who didn’t seem to be skinny but clearly was Skinny Malone, and next to him was his new flame, Darla. She was wearing a bright and sparkly dark-blue dress that gracefully fell over her shoulders and remarked her beautiful figure.

“Nicky? What’re you doin’?” Skinny Malone questioned while pointing his gun to Nick “, you come into my house. Shoot up my guys. Do you have any idea how much this is gonna set me back?”

Darla swung her bat to her shoulder and placed one of her hands on her waist. “Awww… poor little, Valentine.” She provoked Nick with her whining voice “, ashamed you got beat up by a girl? I’ll just run back home to daddy,  _ shall I? _ ”

Darla walked to Skinny Malone’s side and planted a kiss on his jaw with passion and daring Nick with a smile.

“And who are you, sweetie?” Darla asked Bluebird while resting her head on Malone’s chest. “Another rat from the slum?”

“Watch your tongue,  _ darling _ .” MacCready snapped.

MacCready was there for work and he wouldn’t let her talk crap about his boss like that. He took a menacing posture and dared Darla with his deep-blue gaze, threatening her with the marksman’s rifle in his callous hands.

Darla’s expression changed to one where she showed her disdain as a burning fire.

“I guess you’re her daddy.” She barked.

“And I guess he’s your actual dad.” MacCready answered sarcastically while pointing his finger at Malone, who looked way older than Darla. “Don’t screw with us.”

Darla was about to answer him when she was stopped by Malone.

“Should’ve left it alone, Nicky. This ain’t the old neighborhood.” Malone said after he gave Darla a gentle kiss on her forehead to calm her down “. In this vault, I’m king of the castle, you hear me? And I ain’t lettin’ some private dick or weird people shut us down now that I finally got a good thing goin’.”

Darla took a few steps back and angrily looked at Malone. “I told you we should’ve just killed him! But then you had to get all sentimental, because of all that “old times” crap!” she yelled with anger.

Malone furiously looked back at her. “Darla, I’m handling this! Skinny Malone’s always got things under control!”

Darla raised her brows and looked at the three of them, Bluebird, MacCready and Nick, with deep despise.

“Oh yeah, then what are these two guys doing here, huh? Valentine must have brought them to rub us all out!” said Darla while pointing her finger towards them and lowering her brows.

She walked up to Bluebird and looked down on her; she was taller and her body was way more…  _ robust _ . They only shared similar hair color, but everything else was like the North-East and the South-west, totally different poles.

“Especially you, little bitch…” She whispered to Bluebird’s ear “, you seem to be so full of yourself to not even answer me; the  _ worst  _ kind of people.”

MacCready didn’t stand it any longer. He pointed his rifle to Darla’s naked throat without thinking it twice. “You took a few more steps than you should have.  _ Back _ .  _ Off _ .” He hissed while pressing the cold suppressor into her skin.

Between all that hassle, Bluebird didn’t even flinch once. She remained calm and centered, but MacCready could feel her burning anger gaze even if it wasn’t placed on him and heard how she clenched her jaw. He remembered the day when Bluebird hired him and how she told him how people underestimated her.

“MacCready! Pal’, what’re ya’ doin’ there!?” Malone screamed with fear.

MacCready grinned and pushed further his gun onto her throat as he felt Darla tremble under the iron of his rifle. “Just tellin’ your “flame” to not mess up with my boss, Malone.” He said with a voracious look.

Malone became nervous. He knew how well MacCready worked and how many times he had begged him to join him as his best man.

“You said you wouldn’t be doing dirty work anymore, MacCready.” Stuttered Malone.

“I said not for you, bas…-” MacCready remembered his promise and corrected himself “Not for you, pal’. I left the gunners for good and I am not going to fall into the same crap twice.” He remarked.

Malone was nervously looking around the room and started sweating while he scratched his hair. He lowered his gun and his breath quickened in less than a few minutes; MacCready’s reputation preceded him  _ really _ well, especially with folks like Malone who thought they were  _ king of the castle _ .

MacCready took a little of his time to evaluate their situation. Nick was nervous, looking at MacCready with a gaze that screamed “ _ stop this madness and don’t fuck around _ ” and Bluebird had her pitch-black eyes fixed on Darla while clenching her jaw while and slightly frowning her brows, reflecting that she was really mad with her. Then, MacCready proceeded to count the men that Malone had in the room. Excluding Darla, there were only 2 triggermen.

“ _ I thought there were more, _ ” MacCready thought.

He knew that it would be really hard to get out of the room without fighting, but then he remembered something he knew about Malone.

“Anyway,” Nick said, trying to cool the situation down “. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you two-timing dame, Skinny. You ought to tell her to write home more often.”

Skinny Malone shrugged and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes in the process. He was being childish.

“Hey, rubbing you out wasn’t the plan originally, but hey, tempting.” MacCready sarcastically commented, attempting to take advantage of the situation.

Bluebird turned around and grabbed MacCready by the neck of his shirt, dedicating him a mad gaze while she narrowed her eyes and frowned her brows. 

“Sorry, boss.” He muttered while chuckling. She let him go and made a sign with her hands that meant she was watching him.

“Hey, I’m the one in charge here. You got somethin’ to say? Say it to me.” said Skinny Malone while recomposing himself and aiming his gun to MacCready.

MacCready looked at Darla with an arrogant smile and then turned it to Malone.

“Look at yourself. Darla is playing you for a sap. You’re better than this. You are better than her.” MacCready said, trying to convince Malone.

It was better for his boss if she got Darla out of her way, the way she liked it. Talking their way out could be the best option, fighting was off the table due to Bluebird’s condition. They needed to just get out of that damned place.

Malone was about to answer when he doubted himself and narrowed his eyes, genuinely contemplating what he just heard. Then, Malone wide opened his eyes in shock and dropped his jaw. At first, he looked angry, furrowing his brows and shaking his head. But after a while, he started nodding to himself.

“You’re… you’re right.” Malone admitted “, things have gone nothin’ but sooth since she walked into my life.”

He shrugged and looked away, his tone demonstrated disappointment and sadness.

“What are you talkin’ about Skinny?” whimpered Darla with teary eyes.

“I’m sayin’ you’re draggin’ me and this whole operation down a bad road.  _ We’re through _ .”

MacCready grabbed Bluebird by her waist and whispered to her ear. “This is our chance, let’s get going while they discuss.”

Bluebird’s cheeks turned bright red and her pitch-black eyes showed that rare but magical glimpse. She felt MacCready’s warm breath on her ear and neck, his chest exhaling and his gentle touch. She nodded quickly while she was lost in a haze and made a sign to Nick and quickly moved to another side.

“Well, fine then!” screamed Darla while crying “. I’m going back home.”

The tears were ruining Darla’s poor makeup, but that didn’t hide her flushed face and her squinted eyes. She walked up to Skinny Malone and pushed him aggressively. 

“I don’t need you, you fat ass!”

Malone sighed and placed his hand on his forehead.

“They always gotta hit you where it hurts.” Malone said after taking a deep breath.

Bluebird, Nick and MacCready were quietly sneaking past the triggermen when they were surprised by the guns pointed at them again—something that was to be expected but was overlooked.

“Now what am I going to do about you three?” Malone said loudly.

MacCready heavily sighed and turned around to answer him but Malone already had the answer. “I know! I’m gonna give you until the count of ten. I still see your ugly faces after that, I’m gonna start shooting until there ain’t no more bullets left in this whole Vault!” he said.

“We better get outta here. Fast.” Nick said when he started to run.

MacCready was about to run along with Nick when he remembered that Bluebird couldn’t run because of the bullet in her leg. He nervously looked at her waiting for a smart solution or answer by her, like she would always do, but this time there wasn’t any idea.

“Hope you can forgive me, boss.” MacCready said.

He grabbed her by the hip and mounted her on his shoulder and started to run.

“See ya’ later, idiots.” He screamed to Malone when he left him far behind.

As he ran through the train rails that were outside the Vault—which was in a subway—, he thought of how light Bluebird was. She wasn’t heavy at all unlike some other ladies in the Commonwealth, he thought. MacCready could clearly listen to Skinny Malone doing the countdown and as he went through the large tunnel it slowly dissipated.

Bluebird was softly but consistently hitting MacCready’s back, like telling him to put her down. But he wouldn’t take any chances, they could be shot by more triggermen on their way.

“Sorry,  _ sweety _ ! Not taking any chances.” MacCready said while laughing.

He got hit harder after he said “ _ sweety _ ”, almost losing his air.

“Sorry again, boss,” he whispered.

As they kept walking through the subway and reached the door that would finally let them out, it was harder to adapt to the illuminated environment. When Nick opened the door for them, the light blinded them. MacCready let out a yell out of his body and tried to cover his eyes.

“Too bright!” he whined.

MacCready remembered how safe he felt with a rocky roof above his head, but that was long gone. As they walked out of Park Street Station, they could see their beautiful Commonwealth. Throughout the years, trees and bushes had deeply grown into the city that created a “new” kind of environment. The green-yellowish leaves were all around them and under their feet the grass was barely burnt because of the battles that usually took place on those sides of the city.

“We can’t stay here” Nick said “, we need to move further.”

MacCready had forgotten that he was carrying Bluebird on his shoulder until she hit him harder again on his back.

“Sorry!”

MacCready carefully tried to put her down, but with his poor delicacy skills he let her fall to the ground. Bluebird looked pissed, but some signs on her face said otherwise. Her blush hadn’t disappeared and she had tried to hide her face by burying it in her hands, shaking her head in frustration.

“Let’s get going, shall we?” said Nick with a soft smile.

The three of them walked a few streets until they found an abandoned store that could give them the privacy and hideout they needed; the Commonwealth wasn’t that safe after all.

“Check out for ghouls,” MacCready said while searching the whole place thoroughly, he didn’t want to miss a spot.

“MacCready, it’s okay. The place it’s clean-” said Nick while trying to calm MacCready down but he interrupted him.

“No. We need to check if the place doesn’t have a-any traps or whatever,” He stuttered nervously.

MacCready felt his hands sweaty while he was examining between the roots, the leaves and the debris in there. While he and Nick revised the place, Bluebird sat on the counter to relax and not agitate her wound.

“There’s nothing,” Nick said trying to calm him down.

And MacCready repeated it “There’s nothing,” while sighing.

MacCready relaxed and sat a few feet away from Bluebird. He tapped the table with his fingers and swung one of his legs back and forward as he hummed to Lone Wanderer, a song he usually listened to on the Diamond City Radio. He knew he was being hysterical, but some habits could not be easily changed, especially when nature had grown so much into the city that it hid the monstrosities under its beauty—it was tricky.

Nick lay his back on a pillar that was covered in moss and took a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. When Nick feigned to smoke the cigarette and play with the smoke, Bluebird rolled her eyes and shook her head in disappointment.

“Sorry, kid.” Nick said after turning it off in his hand and tossed it to the ground “, it’s quite the strange habit I have; belonged to the “real” Nick,” he whispered.

Nick took a deep breath and cleaned the dirt off his black fedora.

“Let’s get to the point. Thanks for getting me out. How did you know where to find me, anyway? Not many people knew where I went…” He said while putting his fedora back on.

Bluebird kept quiet as usual. Probably she would have given him a letter like she was always prepared to do, but this time she hadn’t had any time to prepare them in the morning or other moment—they had just been running through the green and dangerous Commonwealth, scavenging and making works wherever they could find.

“Ellie in your office told us where to find you. She sent us,” MacCready answered.

Nick raised his mechanical brows in surprise. “She did?” Nick inquired with genuine surprise “. I should give her a raise,” he sighed to himself with a smile.

Bluebird made a soft grin, her somehow white teeth shined like beautiful pearls or like the ones MacCready had seen in some of the Grognak comics. As usual, she surprised him with every detail.

“Now, you mentioned something about some murderer who killed your husband and how you haven’t found a trace of him, almost like he disappeared in thin air,” Nick interrogated.

For MacCready’s surprise, Bluebird’s expression changed to a mournful, grievous and a distressed one. Her pitch-black eyes didn’t reflect any light or even herself, they just were a mere empty hole to her soul. Nick seemed to notice her reaction and stroked his chin thoughtfully, probably looking for the right words.

“You sure don’t talk much either…” Nick whispered to himself. He took a long pause and continued “, when you’re trying to find someone who is gone missing like that, the devil is in the details. Tell me everything you can, no matter how painful it might be.”

MacCready was astonished. Could someone as Bluebird be married? She sure carried a heavy past on her shoulders, but it wasn’t like MacCready didn’t carry one of his own. Love, death and vengeance could easily come along in many love stories in the Commonwealth, where menace hid under the warm feet of the trees, and she clearly wasn’t an exception, no matter how ethereal he thought she was.

Bluebird pressed her hands together and looked down, shrugged and closed her eyes tightly like there was some kind of pain in her chest. She took a paper and a pencil from one of her pockets and started to scribble on it. At first, she didn’t seem to like what she wrote, so she tore it down and threw the pieces away and started to write again. After a while, she was reading over and over what the paper said, nodded and gave it to Nick.

Nick leaned forward and gently took her letter. While he was reading, he couldn’t stay put for even a few seconds and he usually made grunts like he was understanding what he was reading. For the meantime, MacCready was impatient. He didn’t really know what was going on and didn’t want to stay in the middle of the Commonwealth like that.

“Can you please hurry?” MacCready asked while tilting his head back in annoyance.

“Almost there, gimme’ a sec.”

When Nick finally finished reading, he handed the letter to Bluebird. “So, you were on ice, huh? More importantly you were underground and sealed up. That’s a lot of obstacles to go through to just take one person,” Nick thoughtfully said after he had put his hands in his pockets “. What else can you tell me?”

Bluebird tilted her head and looked at the ceiling, wandering her eyes across the leaves and the vines that had grown there long ago. She looked insecure, searching for vague thoughts or memories. MacCready knew by first hand that remembering that kind of thing wasn’t easy, their expressions, their screams and what they felt that day. When he remembered his past, he felt the hairs on his back go up and a chill wind passing through his nape.

When Bluebird started to scribble on the back of the letter, MacCready took the moment to look at his surroundings. The Commonwealth was different from his “hometown”, a cave called Little Lamplight with other children. Unlike back in the Capital Wasteland, life was unexpectedly growing back between all the dirt and big broken buildings. There were trees taller than those 3-floor houses that even to him seemed big enough and the grass was the greenest he had ever seen in years. Like everywhere he had been into, there would be radioactive rain and heavy mist, but the Commonwealth sure was a big deal. New resources, new opportunities.

And between the green thoughts, MacCready couldn’t take off his mind what Nick just had said. Nick was the only one so far who really knew about Bluebird’s past and MacCready was dying to know more about her, but he knew his own policy. He couldn’t take a chance to ask too many questions or something else would be lost, an opportunity. No risks could be taken and that drove him insane.

As MacCready was looking around, he noticed Bluebird’s upset gaze on the paper, thinking the words to write. He repeated to himself he knew how that felt, but time doesn’t make you forget the things you’ve seen and done and he recalled his past self, how he used to be and what kind of life he had carried. The thought of it made him sniff, but he turned around and looked at the blank wall. The time had taken her away from him, but not from his mind. He couldn’t, and wouldn’t, make the same mistake twice.

MacCready’s thoughts were interrupted by Nick’s voice. “So, we’re talking about a group of cool-hearted killers,” Nick said meditatively “; but they waited until something went wrong to resort to violence… Anything else?”

Bluebird’s eyes seemed to be somewhere else and she looked lost and blue, like death itself had taken the life from her eyes away. MacCready needed to wake her up, if they had gone through so much trouble to take Nick out of that Vault, she needed to be objective like she had always been.

“Boss,” MacCready whispered “. I know this ain’t easy to talk about and you don’t have to if you don’t want to… I’m… I’m here if you need me,” he mumbled while he placed his hand on her shoulder.

As soon as she felt his touch, she turned around and looked at him in the eye. Those beautiful were on the verge of tears, watery and red due to stress. He clenched his jaw and tensed his body, unable to move or to look away. The touch of her skin felt cold like a rainy night with mist, but he didn’t let go. Bluebird eyes expressed how much she did not like to be touched and yet she didn’t even move a finger, she stood still and just looked down.

“It’s okay, take your time;” Nick said trying to be comprehensive “. Perhaps, we should take this matter to my office.”

“That’d be the best choice,” MacCready said while he gently stroked Bluebird’s shoulder “. Right, boss?”

MacCready was trying to lighten the mood, but not too much was obtained. Bluebird nodded and tried to get up but she made a face of pain.

“And we should get you a doctor in Diamond City,” Nick added.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Thank you so much for reading. Pardon me if it took me longer than usual to update, but I'm trying to make the chapter longer so you guys have more to read! The longer it takes the larger the chapter, but I hope you enjoy it! If you think updates should be quicker but shorter in length, tell me in the comments! 
> 
> And hey, leave a comment or a kudo if you liked what you read, it motivates me to keep writing.
> 
> See you in the next update, bye! (❁´◡`❁)


	4. Listening about the secrets

As they walked through the undergrowth city streets, they could hear the wind pass by the leaves and a shooting taking place somewhere else. The sky was taking dusk’s flamboyant colors and the clouds were gathering together far beyond the horizon.

MacCready injected what was left of the stimpak on Bluebird’s leg so they could do the trip to Diamond City the moment they started to move, but he was afraid the doctor would be closed when they arrived.

“We should move quicker,” MacCready reckoned.

MacCready trusted his abilities. But the night and an injured woman never really got along, he had to reduce to minimum the probabilities of his boss getting into danger. He quickened his pace but no one around him did the same, it stressed him but he eventually walked beside Bluebird in her own pace.

MacCready had noticed that Bluebird took short but quick steps, it seemed that for her, it was more comfortable than he actually could have ever thought. To balance their almost synchronized walking, MacCready alternated between short and long steps. He could walk the steps she took in a shorter time, but he chose not to do it.

As they were a while ago, Bluebird’s eyes seemed to be life-less and with no reflection. MacCready thought her eyes were beautiful, but they were overflowed in a sadness he himself knew very well and seemed to be lost in thoughts. She didn’t shed a tear, but he knew at least it wasn’t raining.

The closer they got to Diamond City the darker the sky turned. The gunshots that were being heard from afar had become silent and the voice of the night was the only one listened throughout the city. The further they went, the bushes and leaves started to dissipate, being less and less with every step they took. It meant they weren’t far from their destination.

MacCready observed his surroundings and looked at the sky now deep black. Up there, the stars were beautiful and he swore that he could see something like a beautiful glittering and iridescent cloud behind them. And while he was star-gazing on his own, he tripped one of his feet in a hole on the street and fell to the floor.

Bluebird after taking a few steps, she turned around and looked at MacCready with genuine surprise and laughed.

“What are you laughing at, huh?!” MacCready asked with a grin. He cleaned off the dirt of his clothes and adjusted his hat.

“You okay back there, MacCready?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”

“ _She laughed,_ ” MacCready thought as he stared at the stars upon them. He smiled and rushed to reach Bluebird and be next to her with his sniper rifle ready to fire.

Night in the Commonwealth could be a synonym for death and he decided to focus on his duty.

Oxidized and blown up cars with small vines growing within were all around them and every few times, MacCready passed over some grass. Even between all that darkness and destruction, MacCready saw beauty in all that ugliness that usually put him in a bad mood. He remembered the days he was a bodyguard for caravans and how he used to travel around and discover new places to look at, but just the thought of not being paid enough made his blood boil.

Money. Caps. That’s what he needed and the only reason why he was there.

Some time passed by and they heard the drone sound of some turrets and saw the bright lights of the great green jewel of the Commonwealth, Diamond City. There were some guards at the distance and the majestic iron gate was closed to them.

“Hi Nick,” a Diamond City guard saluted.

“Hello there,” Nick greeted “; is there a way for you guys to open the gate? We need to get through; we are damn tired and need a doctor.” He pointed to Bluebird with his thumb.

The guard squinted his eyes and scratched his nape, looked away and let a long “um…” through his lips.

“I’m sorry Nick; the word is not to open the gate,” the guard awkwardly responds.

MacCready frowned his brows and tapped his foot in impatience. “Says who?” he questioned with displeasure.

The guard looked down and shrugged “, I’m sorry, but the Mayor gave the word to not let anyone into the city at night with this “Synths” stories going around.”

“Come on,” Nick whimpered as he rolled his eyes “. This woman here is injured and you’re gonna leave her like that? For God’s sake, and “Synth” Stories? I’m a synth and I live in this damn city!”

MacCready felt tired. Few nights with bare hours of sleep made him easily lose his already bad temper and the guard wasn’t even thinking of letting them go inside. He looked over his shoulder and watched how pale Bluebird was compared to how she usually was. They needed to enter the city, treat her injury and get some damn sleep.

“Hey, hey. Look at me,” MacCready groaned “, was it really because the mayor who said to not let anyone enter?”

MacCready madly glared at the guard, crossed his arms and kept tapping his feet. “Or is it because of _something_ else?”

“MacCready, what the hell are you saying?” Nick scolded with disappointment “, let me do this.”

But it seemed MacCready was somehow right. The guard sweated in cold and moved around in small circles biting his lip. “That’s what t-the Mayor said,” he vacillated.

MacCready raised a brow and looked at Nick with a gaze that almost said “I told you”. Nick snorted and rolled his glowing yellow eyes.

“Alright, friend. What is going on” Nick inquired as he adjusted his dirty trench coat.

The guard tightened his lips and nervously scratched his nose. “I-I don’t know, it’s the Mayor,” he insisted.

MacCready rolled his eyes as he saw they were getting nowhere. “Too much talking, friend. Bla bla blá…” he mocked while he clapped his hands as if they were talking to each other “; just let us go through the goddamn gate and that’s it!”

MacCready silently threatened the guard with a fight and in a quick response, Nick angrily glared MacCready and clenched his jaw. Nick wasn’t pleased to see MacCready treat a fellow Diamond City citizen be treated like that.

“This doesn’t have to be like this. Just let us in,” Nick said, attempting to calm the waters.

The guard was insecure. He had lowered his brows and bit his lips for every now and then, thinking what he should do.

Meanwhile, MacCready was desperate for a bed to get some sleep, was that really hard? And Bluebird really needed to be treated, but the doctor would be closed by those hours. So, it seemed they had to treat her themselves, a thought that just made him groan. He was quickly taken out of his thoughts when Bluebird started to stumble, like she was dizzy. By the moment she was about to fall, MacCready caught her in his arms.

“We don’t have time for this, just open goddamn the gate” MacCready cursed.

The guard gulped. “O-okay.”

The guard went to the communicator and talked to the person that was on the other side. The majestic iron gate started to elevate and let them enter the city.

“Hope y-you can t-treat your friend,” the guard mumbled.

“Thank you,” Nick replied as he helped MacCready carry Bluebird.

MacCready looked at the guard with disgust and disdain. He spat at the guard’s feet and proceeded to go quickly as possible to the city. The guards that were inside didn’t bother at all to the wretched scene before them, a person who had almost passed out and was bleeding.

“What the hell was that, MacCready!” Nick angrily whispered “, do you just come up with all that by yourself? We could have gotten in trouble.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” MacCready replied uninterested “. My boss needs a doctor, let’s get her one.”

The city was illuminated by some colorful signs and by powerful light bulbs all around the walls of the city. In the marketplace there was no one except for Takahashi, a robot who served the famous Power Noodles in the middle of the marketplace, and Percy, a Mr. Handy who worked the night shifts in the junk shop.

“It’s been years since I was last here. It hasn’t changed at all,” MacCready said while looking at the city.

Nick and MacCready carried Bluebird down the stairs that led to the marketplace and walked their way to the doctor’s office, but the lights were off.

“Goddammit” Nick cursed.

They sat together on a bank and sighed.

“You sure there’s no one in there?” MacCready asked Nick.

“No idea, lights were off.”

“I’m going to take a look. Take care of her,” MacCready announced as he stood up.

Nick grabbed MacCready by his arm and stopped him.

“Hold up there, Mac. You’re just going to knock and ask if there's someone?” Nick interrogated.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Let me handle it _this time_ . _You_ should be the one looking out for your boss, _not me_.” Nick reprimanded.

Nick and MacCready switched places; being the synth the one who left to take a visit to the doctor and the mercenary who sat with the injured.

As soon as MacCready sat, Bluebird’s head rested on his neck. MacCready noticed the appearance of the dark circles under her eyes and how swollen and purple her lips were. The cold winds made her shiver and tremble, making her hug herself. MacCready carefully put her aside so he could take his dusters out and give it to her as a coat.

“Nick will be back soon, hold on a bit more boss.” MacCready whispered.

His eyes felt really heavy, they were trying to close and he didn’t fight it. He knew he also had dark circles under his eyes due to the lack of sleep and that his muscles were worn out, causing him a small stinging pain every time he moved.

He sighed and looked at Bluebird resting upon his shoulder sleeping soundly and how tranquil and serene she looked. He smelled the dirt on her hair and a sweet aroma different to what he had known in his life until that moment. It was strange. It didn’t smell like food, but it was somehow sweet, but not too much, and there also was a citric on it. Perhaps, he was already starting to hallucinate; or so he thought.

MacCready placed his arm around her shoulder and looked at the city before his eyes, which hadn’t changed since the last time he had come. Even if it was quite dark, he recognized Takahashi’s stand for his Power Noodles, Arturo’s stand for guns and ammo and Fallon’s basement behind them, a place where he had once bought a dress for someone dear to him. Then, he saw the Wall, the “protector” of Diamond City.

MacCready felt that time hadn’t passed at all in that place, like it was immune to the years that came by and it made him feel sick. A tight pressure in his chest and an ache in his heart he thought was long gone, a haze of memories swept through his mind and stroked him like an Alpha Deathclaw clawing its way through his throat.

Bluebird groaned in pain and her breath shortened, closed her eyes tightly and clenched her fists. MacCready came back from his thoughts and shook Bluebird’s shoulders to then ask to wake her up.

She briefly opened her eyes to roll them in annoyance and then growled again.

“I can’t believe we trusted that dam… sorry, that machine to bring you a doctor,” he whimpered “. Anyway, I need you to look at me, don’t let go, just— don’t close your eyes, don’t sleep. Not yet.”

MacCready grabbed her tightly by her shoulders and opened his deep-blue eyes intensely; his heart rate fastened and he began to coldly sweat. Bluebird was the palest being MacCready had ever seen and he could see her blue veins and how her lips were chapped and faded.

“NICK!” MacCready yelled desperate “, WE DON’T HAVE MORE TIME TO WASTE”

Bluebird grabbed on tightly to MacCready’s dusters like she was freezing, trembling like it was the first windiest day in years. Out of instinct, MacCready hugged her and called out for Nick one more time.

The guards that passed by looked at him like he was a ghoul of some kind, a feral. Some of them raised their brow and went their way, but none moved a finger to help them. MacCready knew with certainty that it was that kind of behavior that had been slowly poisoning Diamond City for years, a city where everyone seemed to doubt the neighbors they were supposed to trust.

MacCready heard heavy steps from afar. He looked at the direction where the noise came from and saw Nick (the machine) running with a guy that wore a lab coat. He surely was the doctor, he thought.

“We’re here MacCready, don’t need you screaming around Diamond City at these hours…” Nick was saying until he saw Bluebird’s state and went silent.

“Okay, guess we need to hurry,” the doctor said with worry.

The doctor moved aside the dusters Bluebird was using as a blanket and quickly checked her wound. “We need to get her to my office, let’s go.”

MacCready gave Bluebird his dusters to cuddle to then proceed to lift her up and carry her in the typical princess style. The three of them nodded to each other and rushed through the market until they reached the Doctor’s office. Nick opened the door to them and quickly passed through. MacCready left her on the metallic table and took his dusters back.

“Is she going to be okay, doctor?” MacCready asked with a serious tone.

“We need to take a closer look, but so far, it isn’t looking so great,” the doctor answered as he accommodated Bluebird on the table.

“She’s going to be fine. Best doctor in town,” Nick commented with pride “. Right, Doctor Sun?”

Doctor Sun grinned and looked at MacCready “. Could you please help me out?” the doctor asked.

MacCready nervously nodded and walked to his side. He and the doctor started to carefully remove the pieces of green armor she was wearing over her blue vault-suit. MacCready removed her heavy boots and left them aside, but something in them called his attention. Other than the not so strong odor, he found in one of the sides of the boot a carefully folded paper. He chose to follow his curiosity and unfolded it.

It was an old picture, a portrait. There were two people in it: a man wearing a military uniform with a great smile and a woman in a simple but stunning dress next to him who was placing a kiss on his cheek. As he looked closer, he noticed it was no other than Bluebird. MacCready gasped and placed his hand on his mouth in surprise.

Then, he found a message written on the side of the picture.

“ _One of the best days of my life, I love you._ ”

MacCready didn’t recognize the handwriting. It wasn’t Bluebird’s.

He carefully folded the picture and left it on its place and walked to the doctor’s side.

After they had removed all the armor pieces and reached the Vault-suit, the doctor started to slowly unzip the blue suit. MacCready was hypnotized by the revealing inches of skin that were under the tight cloth until something in his mind snapped and he started to doubt.

“I, um… I’ll leave that to you… uh… I, I’ve gotta go. Give her so-some privacy,” MacCready nervously stuttered. 

Doctor Sun gently nodded and MacCready stormed out of the office.

MacCready had so many questions. Was that her husband? Was he murdered? If so, Why? And how did that photo actually come to exist? Cameras had been long out of use and they looked so clean in the picture. Things he had heard before were starting to make sense but others simply did not. It was so confusing.

MacCready remembered his policy and started to curse himself. “You point and I shoot. Simple arrangement, right?” was one of the things he used to say on some of the days they had worked together, but now he felt like he had broken his policy. He did not need to know who that man was or who Bluebird used to be, it didn’t matter. The caps were the important thing.

“You okay there, pal’?” Nick asked, taking MacCready out of his internal discussion.

There was a long silence between them. They didn’t like each other. It was a mutual feeling; however, they also had someone in common that needed their help. Nick invited him to sit next to him to talk.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” MacCready babbled.

Nick sighed and looked down. He opened his mouth like he had something to say and pointed his finger but quickly retracted and averted his gaze away.

MacCready shrugged and rested his head upon his hand and lay his back on the bank. He was thinking about the picture and what it showed, about what Nick said a while ago about Bluebird’s case. He didn’t know how to feel about it; feelings weren’t his thing, he felt alienated to them. Getting straight to the point was what he liked, but not wondering feelings like those he felt.

“I don’t even know her name,” MacCready said to himself.

Nick looked at MacCready with genuine surprise.

“Let’s just hope she’s alright, Mac.” Nick commented while contemplating the sky.

☼●●●☼

The time passed by, probably an hour or two, and they were still waiting for the doctor or Bluebird to come out. MacCready got tired of sitting and started to wander in circles with his hands on the pockets of his dusters.

“Don’t you ever get tired of walking in circles like a dog?” Nick asked with his usual tone, like thinking everyone was dumber than him.

“Nope. And damn, I forgot to pick up that motor oil for you, Valentine.” MacCready slowed his pace but didn’t stop wandering.

“Cute, MacCready. You come up with that all on your own?” Nick says with plain sarcasm.

As they were discussing, the office’s door slammed to the wall. Nick and MacCready got quiet and looked at the entrance of the doctor’s office; there was Bluebird standing with her head high and with bandages on her leg, next to her was the doctor.

MacCready sighed in ease and took his hands out of his pockets.

“See, MacCready? She’s fine.” Nick mumbled.

The doctor raised his finger and looked at Nick with contradiction “, actually, she needs some rest for a few days. She can’t travel like this for long, or it’s going to be worse…” He said.

Bluebird gracefully bowed her head to the doctor and took a few caps from one of the pockets of her armor which she gave to him.

“This is more than enough. Stay safe,” Doctor Sun said while returning the bow and leaving the three of them alone.

Few minutes were spent in silence until MacCready decided to speak. “So, uh. Let’s go to your office or do you have other plans, boss?” He asked.

Bluebird thoughtfully stroked her chin as she looked to the sky.

“She needs to rest pal’. I don’t have the space for all of us in my office, so I’d recommend Dugout Inn for both of you. We could meet in the morning,” Nick opined.

“Then, see you tomorrow Nick.” MacCready said as he escorted Bluebird.

“See ya’, kid. I’m sorry, but you’ll get better. If you need anything or there’s an emergency, I’ll be in my office. Take care.”

Bluebird nodded and thankfully bowed to Nick. MacCready and Bluebird were left by themselves as Nick Valentine walked away with a smile and with a lit cigarette lingering in his fingers.

Bluebird’s expression was now back to usual, blank and with an almost nonexistent reflection of emotion. The lady with a face full of pain and the beautiful woman of the picture was gone and only those sharp and black-pitched eyes remained. She made a slight movement with her hand to indicate to MacCready to follow her as she started to walk with her head high.

They began to walk their way through Diamond City, and as they did, an unusual chilling wind passed through them and the temperature suddenly dropped. MacCready could see the mist of his own breath and his hands felt cold.

“Uh… Cold weather? Oh, _it's definitely snow problem_ ," MacCready chuckled as he warmed his hands with his breath.

Bluebird turned around for a moment and raised a brow.

“No? Alright.” MacCready whispered to himself as he laughed.

MacCready looked at the dark clouds that hid the stars above them and heard an almighty and roaring thunder that shook the ground. When he looked to the ground, there were marks of water drops everywhere. It sure was going to be a hell of a storm.

As they walked through some alleys, a heavy rain came upon them.

“Ugh! I hate getting wet!” MacCready said as he rushed his pace.

MacCready swore he had heard a laugh between all the grinding noise of the rain against the metallic roofs of the city. Bluebird quickened her hobble walking and both rushed their way until they reached Vadim’s place: Dugout Inn. They barged in through the door and stepped in as soon as possible.

The lobby seemed to be a good place to have a drink. There were people sitting on the couches on their right discussing whatever came to their minds and laughing with some moonshine in their glasses. Next to MacCready, was a Port-A-Diner with some perfectly conserved plates that made his stomach growl and a woman with silver hair enjoying a drink by herself. Diamond City Radio was playing on an old but functional jukebox and some hummed to its tune.

“It looks like our friends here are _kinda_ _wet_.” Vadim said with his strong and foreign accent, which resembled the ones who used to be Russians or the Soviet Union back before the war, while he was having a loud laugh by himself.

Vadim, the bartender in Dugout Inn, was behind the bar cleaning the wood before him with some old rag. At his back, there were shelves filled with all kinds of drinks and the heads of some animals were hung on the walls, like the heads of a brahmin and radstag. In that same wall, “ _BOSTON_ ” was painted big in a rich and beautiful red.

MacCready laughed at Vadim’s comment. Bluebird attentively looked at her surroundings, exploring with her beautiful eyes the lobby.

“Oh man, I love this place,” MacCready murmured to Bluebird’s ear “. Vadim is a character.”

MacCready made a sign with his hand so that she’d follow him from behind.

“Vadim!” MacCready called “, still killing people with your moonshine?”

“ _MacCrrready!_ ” Vadim yelled with a smile.

MacCready and Bluebird walked to the bar, leaving behind them wet foot marks on the floor as they went through the lobby. 

“Is good to see you, _tovarisch_. How is Lucy? She still as beautiful as I remember?”

MacCready’s heart sank and tore into little pieces. He felt Bluebird’s heavy and curious gaze upon him like a pressure on his shoulders. MacCready looked over his shoulders and noticed how her body was trembling due to the cold.

“No… She didn’t make it, Vadim.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there, Keith here! Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you read, leave a comment or a kudo. It motivates me to keep writing!
> 
> I'm open to feedback and constructive criticism; both are gladly welcomed!
> 
> See ya' in the next update!


	5. A Clue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Keith here. You can leave a comment or a kudo if you like what you are about to read, it motivates me to keep writing!
> 
> I have an Instagram (@Dainty.Keith) and a wattpad (@DaintyKeith) accounts if you're interested to see my drawings or other writing work (in spanish! English coming soon).
> 
> See ya' on the next note (❁´◡`❁)

There was a long silence between the three of them. MacCready’s world had just stopped and was invaded with an oppressing feeling in his chest, and yet, the music kept playing clear and loud and the people were laughing with their moonshine drinks. On the other side, Bluebird composed herself and started to rub her arms to warm herself and regained her usual expression.

MacCready squeezed his drenched duster and his hat in an attempt to distract himself; Bluebird extracted some of the water that had soaked her hair.

“I’m sorry,” said Vadim, breaking the silence “, mouth tends to be faster than brain.”

Vadim chuckled and took out from the shelves a bottle that seemed to be moonshine and three shot-glasses. “Tell you what, I give you and your friend a drink on the house… for old times.”

MacCready grinned and looked at Vadim with sore eyes.

“Thanks. You were always a real stand-up kind of guy, Vadim. Well, let’s drink.”

Vadim opened the moonshine bottle and generously served the three shot-glasses with a smile. He then handed to Bluebird and MacCready their respective shot-glasses.

“Be careful with the Moonshine, boss,” MacCready warned Bluebird.

She raised a brow and dared him with her pitch-black gaze. Without taking her eyes off MacCready, she took the shot-glass with her small hand and swallowed the whole moonshine in it in one shot. She licked her lower lip and cleaned the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand. Bluebird didn’t seem to get dizzy and much less to even be affected by the drink. She sure was a hell of a good drinker, but Moonshine could easily betray even the best drinker.

MacCready started to feel the cold and looked at Bluebird, who couldn’t stop trembling. He giggled and drank his moonshine. “We’re looking for rooms,” he told Vadim “. Any available?”

Vadim served himself another shot-glass of Moonshine after he drank what he had.

“You know that is with my  _ brrother _ , Yefim.” Vadim replied as he drank his moonshine “, and try to not wet place more.” He laughed.

MacCready looked at his feet and saw a small pool of water around them and saw how water drops fell down his hair. He sighed and searched for Yefim all over the place with his deep blue eyes and found him next to the door that led to the dormitory’s hall.

“Yefim!” MacCready called.

Yefim, Vadim’s twin brother, raised his gaze and placed it upon MacCready and smiled. “ _ MacCrrready _ !” he exclaimed happily.

The Bobrov’s brothers had a peculiar and unique way of calling his name, they used a really strong and pronounced “R” because of the language they inherited from their ancestors. Nonetheless, MacCready knew his last name could easily confuse anyone who wouldn’t pay attention to how to say it.

“What ya’ need?” Yefim asked MacCready as he walked to him.

MacCready proceeded to explain to Yefim what they wanted: rent rooms to pass the night. As Yefim was listening, he slowly began to shake his head and stroked his chin as he lowered his brows and shrugged.

“Too late,” Yefim said thoughtfully “, most rooms are occupied. Too many passed out because of moonshine, so only room number two is available, you okay with that?”

MacCready heavily exhaled and looked at Bluebird. She was trembling in the cold and the tips of her fingers had become stiff and wrinkled; and there was no way to go to the other hotel in town, the storm outside roared aggressively and with no mercy. Even if the music was loud and the people were laughing, the muffled buzzing sound of the wind and the raindrops hitting the metallic roofs could be heard.

“You okay with that, boss? I don’t mind, but you give the last word,” MacCready said as he crossed his arms.

He rubbed his eyes and saw how Bluebird slowly nodded.

Suddenly, a strong light passed through the threshold of the entrance door. The thunder that came a few seconds later made the ground tremble and dazzled everyone who heard it. The lobby became dark and quiet and only the soft glow of a lit cigarette could be seen. The storm never ceased to roar outside the inn and the wild wind slammed the door open, letting in a cold airstream pass through.

“ _ Great! _ ” MacCready yelled with anger and sarcasm as he started to tremble more with the cold that went through him.

The silence quickly undid and people kept laughing. They could not see each other’s faces but the tinkle of the toasts they made  _ flooded _ the room.

Vadim lit up a wax candle in a lantern and took it with one of his hairy hands. As the delicate warm light strengthened, MacCready saw one side of Bluebird’s face being illuminated in the darkness. Her short black hair was messy and wet and some of it fell over her face; and MacCready had caught a glimpse of a piercing in one of her ears that was captured in the light, it was small and simple but it looked beautiful.

Her pristine skin gorgeously shined and even if there was bare light, MacCready discovered her dilated pupils and her full rouge lips. As his gaze went lower, he found her neck and the vault-suit that hid a mysterious tattoo. Her dainty body could not hide how fierce and wild she was, how those eyes could be daring and menacing but yet attractive,  _ elegant _ . There was a beauty that MacCready perceived in that fierceness of hers.

Vadim started to laugh loudly and said: “Well, well. Storm quite wild, isn’t it? It reminds me of the time…” But he couldn’t remember how the story followed and laughed even louder.

Yefim, on the other side, placed his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes.

“Just what we needed,” Yefim said frustrated “; anyway, going for the room? Just walk up straight to the first door.” He said to MacCready.

Bluebird turned on the wrist-watch on her left arm and used it as a flashlight, took out of one of her many pockets ten caps and gave them to Yefim.

“Do you happen to have any blankets to spare? It’s kinda’ cold  _ snow _ .” He said, laughing at his own pun.

Yefim giggled and took the caps from Bluebird’s hands. “I’m not sure, I’ll check for you.”

“Thanks”

Bluebird and MacCready walked straight to the first door that could barely be seen with the Bluebird’s wristwatch and left Yefim and Vadim behind as they were lighting candles up all around the lobby and checking on the clients. The room’s door had painted a big “2” in white on its front, indicating that was their destination.

The door opened to MacCready’s touch and the darkness within the habitation showed up to them. They stepped in and the Pip-boy scarcely illuminated their surroundings, just enough for only one or two feet. From what MacCready could see, the walls had signs to be once blue and there was a small cabinet next to the door. As they walked forward, they found a coffee table with dust with a chair and couch surrounding it. A single bed was on the right and there was a wide square blue carpet on the floor.

“This is it.” MacCready said alleviated as he let himself fall over the couch “, you have the bed. I’ll be fine.”

MacCready started to accommodate himself on the couch. It wasn’t big enough for him and his feet had to be on the outside. He growled but didn’t mind it too much, since he could finally get some decent sleep that didn’t demand for switching guarding shifts. However, he realized his clothes were drenched and quickly stood up.

“For god’s sake, can this day be worse?” He cursed.

_ Of course, a day can be so much worse.  _ MacCready couldn’t stop shaking and he started to stutter, Bluebird wasn’t any better. There were no blankets to be seen on the bed and the room’s temperature was insanely lower than in the lobby. He took off his dark green scarf, his body length tan jacket, that was torn at the front, and the belt that held it all together, and left them on the coffee table. He considered taking off his green long-sleeved shirt until he remembered that Bluebird was there, next to him.

“Boss, you’re freezing. The suit it’s drenched and t-that isn’t going to help at all with this fuc… this stupid cold.” MacCready spluttered. He couldn’t stop shivering.

She was just a few feet away from him and it was difficult to see her. MacCready thanked her because she had that thing that barely illuminated the room but it sure didn’t have an option to become the room’s heater, but technology wasn’t really his stuff either.

Bluebird crossed her arms and impatiently tapped her foot, nervously wandering her eyes across the darkness.

“You can turn off that wrist-watch or whatever it’s called,” MacCready suggested out of the blue “, and if the scarf dries fast enough you can take it or whatever. Just don’t die,” he blurted.

She lowered her brows and squinted her eyes in distrust. MacCready grinned and started to rub his arms to ease the cold that invaded his body.

“You can trust me. I couldn’t peep even if I wanted to. You’ll be fine.”

Bluebird raised a brow and lifted up her chin with hesitation in her gaze. MacCready sighed and turned around.

He shrugged “. I promise.”

The light was turned off and the room submerged in total darkness. Nothing could be seen; he couldn’t see his own hands or feet. The sound of the metallic pieces of armor clanking as they fell to the floor invaded his senses, feeling their weight when they hit the ground. MacCready wanted to close his eyes, nonetheless, it was pointless.

MacCready took his green long-sleeved shirt and his white undershirt off and left them on the couch. He grabbed his hat and squeezed out the water in it and then scrubbed his head to dry his hair; after a while he stopped trembling and felt a bit better.

He carefully listened to Bluebird’s almost inaudible breath and how she slowly unzipped her vault-suit. He flinched to a strong clatter that sounded next to him. Bluebird’s light feet walked across the room, moving the metallic armor pieces from one side to another. He was scared to make a move and touch her, to feel her body. MacCready clenched his teeth and felt his cheeks burning in a bright red as he wandered his pointlessly wandered his eyes across the darkness.

MacCready wanted to relax, to get _some_ _fucking_ sleep. His rigid body had a hard time to even decently breath and his eyes were deliberately closing, but he didn’t care. It wouldn’t be his first time sleeping on his feet. Without a warning, he felt a warm breath on his back that woke him up. A shiver ran down his spine and his eyes opened widely in surprise. Obviously, MacCready couldn’t see anything, but he felt Bluebird’s presence behind him.

He didn’t know what to do. His heart rate fastened like his breath and couldn’t help but feel the tickling warm on his back. Another thunder made the ground tremble under their feet, but no movement was made. MacCready listened how Bluebird sobbed behind him. She wasn’t okay.

MacCready knew he had to do something. He turned around and saw the emptiness in the dark. He slowly reached out to her with his hands. When he found her skin, he flinched and turned his hands away by instinct. The moment he approached Bluebird again and found her arms, he lingered his fingers through her skin until he stumbled on her hands.

Bluebird at first turned MacCready’s hands away, ferociously without thinking. However, she gave up and let him hold her small hands. They couldn’t see each other and only the touch of their hands eased the sobs heard in the dark. MacCready took a deep breath and smelled the sweet aroma of her hair and the rain that stormed outside.

He didn’t break his promise, he just found a loophole in it.

The storm didn’t cease and neither did the sniffs. She slowly pulled her hands away to then disappear in the gloom with only the soft sounds of her subtle and light steps. MacCready wanted to ask, to know what was that she was looking for in the rotten world. But then again, he had a policy to maintain. However, there was someone who could answer his questions; no one less than the machine, synthetic human and detective, Nick Valentine.

Somebody’s knock interrupted his thought. The door slowly opened and showed Yefim’s face peeking out with a candle in one of his hands. The glimpse of warm and blinding light that came through the opened door illuminated the room. It took some time so MacCready could adapt to the sudden brightness and look at his surroundings.

“Let me turn on some candles for you,” Yefim said as he cleared his throat “, Can I come in?”

MacCready looked around the room and saw that Bluebird was still wearing her blue vault-suit. He turned his gaze to Yefim and answered.

“Sure thing, Yefim.”

Yefim slammed the door so that he could enter with all the things he had in his hands. He brought with him a candle in one of his hands and in the other some clean patched blankets. Yefim left the candle on the coffee table next to MacCready’s things and gave him the blankets. After that, he took from his pocket a lighter and lighted up some of the candles that were all across the room.

“You are lucky we had these sheets cleans,” Yefim said while he was walking out the room.

Bluebird and MacCready were alone again.

Bluebird was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor. MacCready noticed she had her eyes and nose red and her brows here frowned. He walked to her and gave her one of the blankets.

He pressed the blanket on her chest “. You need to rest boss, come on,” MacCready insisted.

She placed her eyes onto MacCready’s naked torso and a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. Bluebird nervously bowed and rushed to the bed to tuck herself in it.

The moment she turned around; MacCready saw her back. The vault-suit was unzipped and it let him see a wide gray-scaled tattoo that spread all across her skin. She was covered in ocean waves and clouds, there were some kind of flowers he had never seen before that showed her pale skin. He noticed some scars were hidden beneath all that ink, but what was before MacCready’s eyes surprised him.

He quickly turned away his gaze and walked to the couch. When he felt the soft cushion underneath him, he melted right away. MacCready accommodated himself so that he could see the door if anyone dared to enter, leaving his sniper rifle to his reach.

MacCready looked at Bluebird again and saw how soundly she slept. She was hugging herself, clinging to the sheet that gave her warmth. His eyes felt heavy and he finally gave up, getting the rest he had wanted for so long. However, the thought of the peculiar tattoo he saw never left his mind. 

☼●●●☼

Bluebird and MacCready were at Valentine’s office. The office was small, it only had two desks and there were cabinets all around with documents which MacCready presumed were about investigation and “ _ detective _ ” cases.

It was past 1 p.m. and Bluebird was sitting in the chair in front of Valentine’s desk, who was comfortably sitting with a lit cigarette in his hand. MacCready stood next to Bluebird with his weapon halted, quietly observing the situation in front of him.

Ellie Perkins, Nick’s secretary, appeared when the office’s door opened.

“Oh, god. It’s really you!” She exclaimed as she ran to Nick’s side. Her eyes were wide opened and her mouth made a perfect circle. Ellie seemed to be happy and glad to see Nick again.

Nick smiled and greeted her.“It’s hard to mistake this mug for anyone else,” Nick joked.

“You keep laughing at death and someday death’s gonna’ laugh back,” Ellie sighed and looked at Nick.

“Not as long as I got a few friends to back me up.”

Ellie knelt and hugged Nick tightly as she closed her eyes.“I thought you were dead,” she whispered to Nick’s ear.

After that, Ellie looked at Bluebird who was quietly watching her. She walked towards the silent woman and bowed.

“Thank you. For saving Nick, this agency  _ and _ my job.” She said as she quickly arranged a messy lock of her hair.

Bluebird gracefully bowed her head to Ellie without changing her facial expression. MacCready frowned at his brows but didn’t comment. Ellie revised her pocket and took out a caps stash.

“I know caps weren’t on the table when you went out to find him but you deserve a reward,” Ellie said as she gave Bluebird the stash.

Bluebird opened the stash and quickly counted the caps in there, then handed it to MacCready and looked at Nick again. She rested her elbows on the desk and crossed her legs.

“So, let’s pick up from where we left it,” Nick said “. What else do you remember?” And slid a piece of paper through the desk and gave her a pencil to write.

She grabbed it and quickly started to write down what came to her mind. MacCready leaned and peeked at what she was scribbling on the paper and read something like:

“ _ There was a man and a woman… I remember they called me “the backup”, other than that they didn’t say much. _ ”

She gently slid the letter through the desk and passed it to Nick. He picked it up and read it, making gestures as he read it.

“So, we’re talking about a small team.  _ Professionals _ ,” Nick remarked as he returned the letter “. The kind that knows to keep their lips tight when they’re on a job. Not sure what the backup means, so… Anything else?”

Bluebird placed her hand on her chin and closed her eyes, as if she was trying to remember. Her right hand slightly quivered and slowly tapped the table with her fingers; then, she grabbed the paper with her paper and stared at it for a moment. She easily rugged the paper with her nails without noticing.

MacCready became aware of her gaze that felt like it was lost, blank,  _ empty _ . When she realized what she did, she quickly tried to smooth it with the palm of her hand on the desk. Bluebird took the pencil and started to write down. MacCready attempted to lean and read the paper, but the handwriting was unusual… It was sloppy and hard to read, as if her hands couldn’t stay steady.

“ _ We’re looking for my son, Shaun, (…); _ ” was what the beginning of the letter said.

A knot was formed in his throat. MacCready gasped and covered his mouth with his hand, felt how his heart skipped a beat and came to a realization. In her unknown story there was a child… a  _ fucking _ child in between. First a dead husband and now a missing son? The moment he placed himself in her shoes, his heart sank.

“ _ I can’t imagine how it must feel… I… I don’t want to. Nobody should go through that, _ ” MacCready thought.

MacCready took a few steps back and looked at his feet. He thought about his five years old son, Duncan, and how MacCready couldn’t stand to watch him slowly die back in the Capital Wasteland. Those blue boils on his skin and his beautiful smile that had dissipated a long time ago. The thought of his son that couldn’t even walk broke his heart.

Nick quietly looked at MacCready and didn’t say anything, but his yellow glowing eyes said that he knew. After some time, Bluebird gave Nick the paper for a last time and the synth carefully read it.

“Good question. Why your family in particular? Why an infant? Someone would be taking on all of his care and a baby needs a lot of it.” Nick says as he lighted up a cigarette.

Bluebird, without any tact, stands up from her chair and takes the cigarette off Nick’s hands and puts it down on the ashtray that laid next to a pile of files. Bluebird either hated the smell of the cigarette in general, but she wouldn’t stand just looking at it. She sat down on the chair again and did like nothing happened.

Nick sighed and entangled his fingers together.

“Well… That confirms it. This isn’t a random kidnapping,” Nick claimed firmly “. Whoever took your kid had an agenda.”

There was a brief silence. Nick squinted his eyes and frowned his brows as he clenched his mechanical jaw.

“Hmm…” He groaned thoughtfully “, there are a lot of groups that take people. Raiders. Super Mutants. Gunners,” he counted with his fingers “. And of course, there’s the Institute.”

MacCready let a “tch…” scape through his lips. His eyebrows squeezed together in a wrinkle, his eyelids and mouth were tight and straight and had the jaw gritted. MacCready realized that perhaps that was the reason he was hired in the first place. He sure knew he wasn’t the best person in the world; he killed people for caps. But he made a promise to be a good one.

“Valentine, you think the Institute is responsible?” MacCready blurted.

Nick’s glowing yellow eyes looked up at MacCready and nodded.

“They are the boogey-man of the Commonwealth. Something goes wrong and everyone blames them and easy to see why. Those early model synths of their stripped down whole towns apart, killing everything on their way. Then, you got the newer models, good as humans. Infiltrate cities and pull strings from the shadows. Worst of all, no one knows why they do it, what their plan is or where they are. Not even me; and I’m a synth myself—a discarded prototype anyway.”

Bluebird snatched the letter from Nick’s hands and quickly wrote something and rubbed it on his face, demanding an answer to what it said.

“Some kind of security setting strips or blocks out those memories, and it’s not just me. Any synth that gets trashed, left behind or escaped, has the same problem. Probably some kind of fail safe.” 

MacCready walked to Bluebird’s side and saw her teary eyes. She was desperate. Ellie, who was writing down everything said, muttered something to Nick and he adjusted his fedora and sloppy necktie.

“Either way,” Nick said “. Speculation is taking us off track. Let’s focus on what you saw. What did these kidnappers look like?”

Bluebird showed Nick that both of the sides of the paper had been filled out and quickly Ellie gave her another piece of paper. She violently started to scribble down on the paper, releasing all her anger with every stroke she made. MacCready bent his body to look over Bluebird’s shoulder to read what she was writing. Her writing was very dark and fast.

“ _ One of them came right up to me. Bald head and a scar across his left eye. _ ” MacCready managed to read before she recklessly threw the letter to Nick.

“Wait…” Nick said as his mechanical eyes opened widely “. It couldn’t be… You didn’t hear the name Kellogg at all, did ya’?”

Bluebird shook her head.

“Way too big of a coincidence,” Nick muttered as he turned his eyes to Ellie “. Ellie, what notes do we have about the Kellogg case?”

Ellie quickly passed through the pages of her notes and read.

“The description matches,” she announced “, bald head. Scar. Reputation for dangerous mercenary work, but no one knows who his employer is.”

“And he bought a house here in town, right? And he had a kid with him, didn’t he?” Nick thoughtfully stroked his chin.

“Yeah! That’s right. The house in the abandoned west stands; the boy with him was around ten years old.”

She slowly shook her head in denial, not believing what they had said.

“Maybe it’s another kidnapped kid,” Ellie pointed out.

“Yeah. Either that or he’s got a son of his own. Not a comforting thought in any case. Both of them vanished a while ago and haven’t been heard ever since. Let’s you and I take a walk over Kellogg’s last known address. See if we can snoop out where he went,” Nick uttered as he stood up from his chair and accommodated his trench coat.

Bluebird stood up and walked to Valentine’s side. MacCready followed her from behind.

“Security doesn’t really go to that part of town but, you three should still be careful.” Ellie warned them.

“I always am,” Nick said before the three of them headed out.

“We’re not amateurs, we know how to handle ourselves,” MacCready angrily whispered.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Nick led the way to Kellogg’s last known address.

“I didn’t want Ellie to hear this, but I think you should know. Everything I dug up about Kellogg before his disappearance is bad news. He’s more than just a mercenary. He’s a professional. Quick, clean, thorough. Has no enemies, because they’re all dead… except you.” Nick said.

MacCready walked to Bluebird’s side and whispered to her ear: “I’ll back you up.”

“But nine to one odds says he’s our man. It’s more than just you identifying his distinguishing features. The MO is all him as well. Leading a small team to kidnap a baby and leaving one of the parents alive later? Not many mercs in the Commonwealth can pull that off.”

They crossed the main street and walked through the west alley until they found stairs that led to a metallic platform with only two medium-sized houses and walked them up.

From where they were, they could see the whole city. MacCready remembered how he had been on that spot a few years ago with Lucy on a cold night. He shook his head and kept walking towards the door at the end of the metallic platform.

The house was completely made out of metal. The residence was a huge metallic square with no windows and it showed clear signs of oxidation. There was some debris around the entrance but nothing else stood out other than the silence.

“It’s quiet out here… too quiet.” MacCready started to laugh at his own comment “; oh, man, I’ve always wanted to say that.”

Nick passed his metallic hand over Kellogg’s door and turned around.

“You’re right… too quiet,” Nick muttered while he looked at the surroundings “, keep an eye out, will ya’? Let’s see if I can get this open.”

MacCready looked beyond the city walls and saw the trees, bushes and vines that had grown into the buildings. It felt so strange to see life growing back in a place like the Commonwealth that wasn’t too far away from the Glowing Sea. He remembered how conserved the buildings were compared to the ones back in Capital Wasteland, where gray and smoke were the protagonists of everyone’s sight.

He rested his arms on the railing of the platform and sighed. Bluebird walked to MacCready’s side and imitated him, tilting her head to look at the sky.

MacCready thought about the black tattoo on Bluebird’s back and wondered how much it must’ve hurt. He remembered that when he was younger, he wanted to have the Gunner tattoo on his forehead, the one with his blood type—MacCready was O+ according to the blood doctors transfused him.

“How’re you feeling?” MacCready inquired out of the blue.

Bluebird looked MacCready over her shoulder and shrugged. She rotated her hand as if she wanted to say “ _ More or less _ ” and sighed. MacCready chuckled and looked at her.

“Wanna’ sit down or something? That leg isn’t gonna’ heal in a blink of an eye.”

Bluebird nodded and sat down. She laid her back on the simple fence with her legs stretched and MacCready sat next to her. The cold of the floor was barely bearable and there were puddles of water not too far from them.

The rain of the day before had left nothing but a clear grayish sky and a cold breeze running through the streets of the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth. He thought the weather was nice, but he preferred summer over the windy and rainy days of autumn.

Bluebird took a bent and rugged paper from her pockets and handed it to MacCready. He gently took it from her hands and read it. The handwriting was like the one she showed him when they met for the first time, simple.

“ _ What are your thoughts about us? _ ” it said.

MacCready looked at her sideways and noticed she had her pitched-black eyes placed upon him. He quickly folded the letter and gave it back. He thought it was a weird and unexpected question.

He shrugged “. I’d say we're doing pretty good... starting to see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Partnering up with you sure beats drinking myself blind in Goodneighbor,” he declared “, and man, I could use a cigarette.”

MacCready took a cigarette from a box in his pockets and lighted it up. He placed it on his lips and pulled the smoke as deep into his lungs as he could. He felt the rough scratch on the back of the throat and the immediate relaxation even before the release of the smoke through his nose.

MacCready as soon as he remembered that Bluebird didn’t like cigarettes, he thought of throwing it away. But unlike other times, Bluebird kindly asked for the cig with her hand. He carefully handed it to her and expected her to toss it after she put it out. Unexpectedly, she placed the cig on her mouth and exhaled the smoke through her rouge lips. Bluebird licked the gummed strip and rolled the cig between her fingers like a skilled bartender.

Her eyes had a passive but wild look in them. They were daring MacCready as she calmly held the cig between her fingertips. After Bluebird let the smoke escape through her lips, she tended the cigarette to MacCready.

At first, he was reluctant to take it. But she approached him with it once more, insisting him to take it. In the end, MacCready grabbed it and took a last deep breath of the smoke before Bluebird snatched it from him and eventually put it out.

“That’s one heck of a lock…  _ Got something to hide, Kellogg? _ Wanna try it?” Nick asked Bluebird as he turned around.

Bluebird stood up from the floor and walked to the door. She checked the lock and grabbed a bobby pin from one of her pockets and a screwdriver and started to maneuver them across the waypoint. She asked Nick with her hand to hold the screwdriver for her and then she made an agile movement with the bobby pin and the door opened, letting them see the interior of the house.

MacCready rose up and walked to Bluebird’s side and the three of them looked at each other before they stepped into Kellogg’s residence.

The interior was dirty. It was just a simple room with a half second floor. There was a black couch with a lighted wax candle on a small table next to the entrance. Beside the wooden stairs that led the second floor, there was a desk with a tool box and a beer on its top. And there were a lot of blank and dirty pages on the floor and debris all around.

“Let’s take a look around. Kellogg must’ve left something behind,” Nick said as he started to examine the couch.

MacCready walked to the second floor and came across a bed and a long dresser and a table that had some melted candles and pots all around. He revised the cabinets one by one and only found dirty clothes and then checked under the bed. He found nothing.

MacCready went down the stairs and checked every corner thorough, but then again, didn’t find anything. He exhaled exhausted and sank down on the coach.

“You sure this is the right place?” MacCready questioned Nick “, we shouldn’t have trusted this circuit-board to find him…” He yawned.

After some more search was done, nothing was found. The three of them sat together on the small couch and looked at each other.

“Nothing here… Did you check out that desk?” Nick asked to Bluebird “, something does not feel right…”

Bluebird approached the desk and went through the cabinets and its metallic edges. Under the table, she found a hidden red bottom that she didn’t doubt to press. Next to the entrance, a hidden wall slid and showed a hidden room.

“Well… That’s one way to a hidden room,” MacCready said surprised.

He jumped out of the black couch and quickly found his way to the new area.

There was a beautiful red seat in the middle of the room under a gloomy and mysterious light that shone behind a desk fan. Next to the chair, there was an ammunition box and on the left, there were some shelves with all kinds of ammo and canned food. There was a big coffee table that had a variety of exceptional items.

“Gwinnett Stout Beer… Forty-four caliber bullets… And cigars.  _ “San Francisco Sunlights” _ ,” MacCready said as he checked the table.

Nick walked around the room and observed the coffee table “. Interesting brand. Won’t lead us anywhere on its own, though…” he commented.

Bluebird grabbed two stimpaks that laid around the room and saved them in her pockets. She turned to Nick and realized he was looking at her, expecting to be told something. Bluebird snapped and started to look over all her pockets for a pencil and a paper until MacCready showed her a pencil.

“You almost leave it in the Dugout Inn. You gotta be more careful with your stuff,” MacCready said as he gave it to her.

Bluebird, confused, took the pencil and noticed that it had carved “ _ Bluebird _ ” in it. She raised a brow and looked at MacCready.

“Don’t mind it.” MacCready said annoyed “, keep track of your things or you’ll lose them,” he warned.

She let a small grin slip through her lips and walked to the desk, then bent her torse to write on the paper. MacCready and Nick went to her side and leaned to read her writing, which was light and fast. On a corner of the paper, MacCready noticed she had drawn some kind of symbol he had never seen before. He was sure it wasn’t any coincidence.

She tapped the pencil on her chin a few times and kept writing. Under what she was writing, there were other similar but yet different symbols. MacCready had never seen anything like it before, not even back in the capital wasteland. “ _ Could it be Chinese? _ ” he thought, but quickly didn’t find anything believable in that statement.

“ _ I’ve got a dog. Dogmeat. He could track him down; does it work for ya’? _ ” it said.

Nick nodded. “It could work…” He muttered.

MacCready frowned and stepped back. “Dogmeat? First a circuit-board and now a mutt?” He questioned apprehensively.

Nick looked at MacCready with disapproval. “Why don’t you go fetch him and let him have a whiff? See if he picks up the trail.” He told Bluebird.

Bluebird nodded in agreement and sophisticatedly bowed to Nick.

“There’s nothing to be thankful of,” Nick said “, nothing’s to be thankful about. Yet.”

MacCready didn’t understand her mannerism. He knew the “ _ everyone’s different _ ” crap but she was something that exceeded what could even be a simple difference; it stood out from all what he had seen in his life. It annoyed him every time she bowed to others to express her gratitude when it was their job to help her. She gave a lot and barely received anything back.

He growled. “You done talking? We’ve got a mutt to look for.”

Bluebird made a sign with her hand to MacCready to follow her and walked outside the house. Before MacCready headed out, Nick called them.

“Wait! Before you head out of Diamond City… I know this is personal business. If you have to face Kellogg on your own, just say so,” he yelled.

“Boss, I think one more gun could make it easier.” MacCready commented. Even if he didn’t like or trust Nick Valentine that much, he sure knew it’d be easier to find this Kellogg or whoever.

Bluebird turned around and nodded and asked them to follow here without giving it too much importance.

☼●●●☼

“So, how long is it going to take us to get there? MacCready asked.

Bluebird pointed up two fingers.

“Two what? Hours?” She shook her head at his first option “… days?” She nodded.

MacCready sighed. It wasn’t easy to communicate with her when they were out on the road and clear day when they could be attacked by  _ technically _ everything. She used hand signs to express ideas like approval and denial and simple orders like following or going to a specific place.

“Can I see that wrist-watch?” MacCready asked.

She nodded and showed him her Pip-boy. MacCready leaned over her shoulder and slightly rested his head over it as he knelt. The screen showed a big map and had many landmarks all around with different symbols underneath them, like tags he couldn’t read.

“So, uh… Where is it? The place we’re going,” he asked.

With the other hand, she pointed to the upper corner of the map. She zoomed in and underlined the strange symbols.

“I don’t know what the hell it says, but could you mark it and then zoom out so I can see Diamond City?”

When Bluebird did what MacCready requested, he traced his finger over the screen, searching for Diamond City.

“Where’s Diamond City?”

She pointed her finger where a symbol like a diamond and circle in the middle of it was. It was not too far from an arrow that seemed to be their position; it was like some kind of live-map or something like that. Their fingers touched but none reacted harshly. She moved her other hand and MacCready traced the route from Diamond City to the mark she had added and started to recognize other points around them in the map.

He stepped back “, so… If here’s Concord and Drumlin Diner, it could be a day and a half. It’s not that far.”

“We should get moving then,” Nick pointed out.

MacCready couldn’t have said it better himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Keith here. You can leave a comment or a kudo if you liked what you read, it motivates me to keep writing!
> 
> I have an Instagram (@Dainty.Keith) and a wattpad (@DaintyKeith) accounts if you're interested to see my drawings or other writing work (in spanish! English coming soon).
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this update, see ya' in the next one (❁´◡`❁)


	6. The word in town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Keith here. You can leave a comment or a kudo if you like what you are about to read, it motivates me to keep writing!
> 
> I have an Instagram (@Dainty.Keith) and a wattpad (@DaintyKeith) accounts if you're interested to see my drawings or other writing work.
> 
> See ya' on the next note (❁´◡`❁)

Bluebird, MacCready and Nick were not too far from the majestic iron gate, considering how far was the place where the mutt was. MacCready watched the wrist-watch once more and headed out in the direction where the map pointed.

“So… are we heading to Sanctuary Hills?” Nick asked as he leaned to see the map.

MacCready frowned his eyebrows. “Can you read that thing?” he questioned, using a clear annoyed tone.

Nick was a synth, a machine torn apart with scarcely any skin to hide his circuits and mechanical features—and it’s not that they weren’t obvious at all before. He was falling apart and MacCready was for sure that if he received another shot around the neck or in the face area, he’d become a headless rider. MacCready knew for sure his use to know about Bluebird’s past was long gone when he himself said that he’d let her go alone if she wanted—they just needed the mutt. However, Nick had proven himself to be a fine shooter and backup in bad situations and that’s something even MacCready couldn’t deny. He acknowledged his abilities.

Nick shook his head. “I can’t. But the Northwest it’s one of the, quote, safest regions in the Commonwealth, unquote. The word has it that there is a new town and that they are armed to the teeth, no raid has been successful ever since they opened their gates to trade. They’re the new stop for caravans before heading out to Bunker Hill—Other than Abernathy’s Farm, there’s not too much to stop by in Concord.”

Bluebird turned around and thumbed up in agreement to Nick’s comment. The three of them started to follow the route traced in Bluebird’s map in the sunny but cold midday. As they got further from Diamond City, the greens and yellows of autumn in the Commonwealth started to be seen—at this point the name The Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth had started to lose its point thanks to the flourishing life all around—. Travelling wasn't really thought-provoking to MacCready and with a very good reason. The sound of an engaging battle was heard nearby; the hairs of MacCready’s nape straightened up and a shiver ran down his spine. Should they avoid the battle or fight their way?

Nick took out a laser rifle gun from his trench coat and took a defensive pose. “We should keep our heads low,” he said as he slightly crouched.

MacCready prepared his sniper rifle and took position behind Bluebird. The three of them proceeded to walk through the overgrowth streets close to the buildings on the side, using them as a cover. They didn’t know what to expect—raiders, gunners or worse. They kept carefully walking and hiding under the shadows until they had to cross a big and open crossroad. Nick gulped hard and stopped. The gunshot sounds were clearer and rang closer than ever. The three of them stuck their backs on the wall and MacCready, who was last on the line, crouched to the front and snuck his head out of the corner of the brick-made building they were using as a cover. He used the scope of his rifle to see what was happening on the street.

“Raiders,” MacCready muttered as he watched.

The men wearing scrap metal plates molded into armor pieces reinforced by metal bars were gunning down with submachine guns the brahmin of a caravan in an attempt to steal their goods. In defense, the guards of the caravans were using handguns that kicked out smoke with every shot they made and used street lamplights as a cover. There was a heavy smell of gunpowder in the air that MacCready liked, it gave him a nostalgic feeling.

MacCready knew that it was best to not be involved in the fight. Bluebird needed to rest even if she had neglected it by recklessly jumping into action the next morning and by not taking a break—MacCready, on the other side, was expected to give the best of himself for business and was used to not resting. He snapped out of his thoughts when the cold and metallic hand touched his shoulder.

“What else do you see?” Nick asked.

MacCready lowered his gun and retreated. “Raiders were takin’ down a caravan. They’re fighting over the brahmin.”

Nick sighed and stood up. “We should help the caravan, what ya’ say boss?” And prepared his laser rifle.

MacCready raised his hands and stopped Nick from walking any further. “It’s not our business, why do we have to help them? They can do it by themselves!” He muttered angrily.

Nick made a disgusted expression and moved MacCready’s hands away. “We just can’t leave them there. Those folks could use our help—”

“They’re not helpless,” MacCready snapped in a sharp whisper. “They don’t need us. It’s stupid.”

“The stupid one here is the one I’m seeing.”

MacCready clenched his jaw and closed his fist tightly, scratching his nails over the back of his hand. An anger ran down his face and chest and in one swift motion, he grabbed Nick by the neck of his trench coat and pinned him over the building’s wall.

“Look, pal’. It’s more than helping people, don’t play the hero. You are falling apart into pieces, could you even take _one_ more shot? You’re going to blow a fuse or something if you keep going at this rate.” And pressed him harder to the wall.

MacCready wasn’t going to let Nick do whatever he pleased, not when there were other things in game. Time was a precious resource and MacCready knew they were wasting it, but he wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. Nick pushed his hands away and with one sweep of his leg, he launched MacCready to the floor and raised his head, looking down on MacCready.

“Dammit, MacCready. Drop the doom and gloom act, we can work through this. We must.”

Bluebird intervened the discussion by placing her hand on Nick’s arm. She had a serious expression—not the one that seemed concerned or angry, but one that just wanted the situation to be over. MacCready stood up from the ground and scowled. He strongly patted his dusters in an attempt to clear off the dirt on it as he gave Nick a deadly deep-blue gaze.

“This is not our fight,” MacCready whispered.

Bluebird nodded and quickly took out a piece of paper and her pencil. She used the wall as an improvised support and started to quickly write and then gave it to Nick. At this point, MacCready felt incensed and mad. Why risk your life for strangers? Only if there was a mountain of caps were waiting for him—in hell. Nick sighed and looked down.

“Sorry. I understand why you ask me for this, but I would only do it if _he was worthy of it_.” Nick said.

Being worthy of something, uh? MacCready thought that he never deserved the good things or anything at all in his life. He knew he was a slum, a human waste; but he needed no one to remind him of that. He was trying, for God’s sake, to be a better person. And he sure was doing it _so well_ ; he wouldn’t apologize to him either way, he stood for his words and actions and did not regret them. But there was something that to him didn’t feel right.

As they left the quarrel between the raiders and the caravan behind, MacCready spent the upcoming few hours quietly at the back while Nick and Bluebird were walking next to each other. MacCready was silent, lost in thought as they left behind the crumbling buildings where vegetation grew through cracks in the floor where natural light sneaks in from fractured walls and ceilings and collapsed skyscrapers. The sun had begun to come down and the horizon had taken a peach-like color followed by a gradient light blue to a navy blue and the gray clouds were being colored by the orange of nightfall. There were dry leaves all around and the cold ran through his skin.

MacCready was mad with himself by the fact that he let his emotions control his actions. He knew it wasn’t right the way he treated Nick, but at the same time he couldn’t let himself apologize after all the crap he had done but there was true in the words he spoke that he would not retract from. He played with his feet over the rails, balancing over the iron bars on the sides passing from one to another every time he felt like falling. Bluebird looked back every now and then with curiosity that she tried to hide.

After a while, she jumped over the rail and gracefully walked with her head high and stretched her arms to the level of her shoulders. MacCready’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and chuckled. Unlike MacCready, she kept her balance and moved with delicacy like an angel. Nick extended his mechanical arm and let Bluebird grab his hand to help her walk over the iron bar. From behind, MacCready adjusted his hat so it was lower and looked down. He thought about Duncan and how much he would have liked to play balance like he was doing and smiled, but a gloom in his heart arose from the memories that flashed into his mind. He took his hip flask and swallowed a big amount of the rum in it to ease his mind. He couldn’t stand the thought of a boy—his boy who couldn’t even stand up from his bed.

Past another hour, they reached a small settlement called Oberland Station that seemed to only have two citizens. The place was owned by two women who were not to be taken slightly. They had a tower from where they were pointing their minigun and a rifle; had turrets all around and a junk fence that surrounded the small town-of-two who were reluctant about strangers.

“Traders, raiders, gunners or just travelers?” said one of the two women with a severe tone. She had long blond hair and a big scar in her right brow.

Nick tilted his head and greeted. “We’re just folks travellin’,” he said to the women.

The other woman on the tower, who was tall and had brown hair over her shoulders, rubbed her eyes a few times like she didn’t believe what she saw. Blinked hard a few times until her eyes widely opened and gasped. “Missy!” she yelled, “It’s little missy!” A smile formed in her lips.

MacCready arched a brow and looked at Bluebird. He prepared his sniper rifle for the worst situation or outcome. The tall woman quickly ran down the stairs of the tower and opened the gates to give Bluebird a bear hug—who as usual wouldn’t return the hug but attempted to awkwardly comfort her.

“We missed you! Are these your friends?” The brown-haired woman talked enthusiastically as she amusedly twirled her fingers through Bluebird’s long bangs.

Bluebird nodded. The women introduced themselves as Jane Campion and Julia Leigh, being the first the blond one and the brown-haired the last one. From what MacCready could see, Jane had an opposite personality to Julia, who was cheerful and jovial—looked like a teen in love or was the perfect representation of the joy of a kid.

“Guess you’re here for the provs, miss;” Jane guessed.

Bluebird took out a paper from one of her hip pockets and her pencil. Julia snapped and nervously interrupted her:

“Oh miss, don’t mind it. I… I, uh, will take the tatos out for ya!”

From the entrance, MacCready noticed that the settlement didn’t have too much to offer, but sure was one of the tidiest locations he had ever passed by in a while. To the left, there was a door and the stairs that led to the second floor of the tower—it was their residence and watchtower, and to the other side there was the middle-sized tato sowing. Julia rushed to the first door and disappeared as she closed it behind her.

Nick overlooked the place and let a long compliment whistle out of his lips. “Well, well. I love what you’ve done with the place,” Nick said genuinely surprised as he looked over the defenses.

“Thank you, sir.” Said Jane to Nick as she placed her right hand over her left shoulder and the other hand on the back. It seemed to be some kind of formal greeting.

Nick smiled and placed his hands on his pockets. Julia slammed the door with her shoulder with a middle-sized bag of tatos that seemed to be quite heavy. The synth in one swift got to her side and offered his help to the young lady, but she fearfully shook her head. Contrary to Jane, she seemed reluctant of the synth and instinctively took a few steps back. MacCready saw a fear in her eyes that made her grip her fists tightly—he knew that synths were not well perceived in the Commonwealth with the boogeyman on town, the Institute and their wrongdoings and suspicious acts with no reason apparent. She nervously looked away and attempted to look merrier.

“This is it!” Julia walked to Bluebird and handed her the heavy bag “, I hope this will help the folk up North. Bye!” And ran without further thoughts to the tomato sowing to take care of the plantation.

Nick was quite speechless. He wanted to say something but clearly kept his words to himself with a sad look in his eyes.

“I can help you with that,” Nick said, struggling to look happy.

MacCready could tell from the look in his eyes that Nick could snap everything back with more whatever came to him, but silence was one of those things he couldn’t hit back—or at least that’s what MacCready supposed. Nick took the bag from Bluebird’s hands and looked around for the last time before saying:

“Is there anything else we need to take from here?” and saw Bluebird with his yellow glowing eyes.

Bluebird seemed to catch the feeling in his eyes and grabbed his hand. She placed herself next to Nick so he could read what she was writing, making pauses between one word and another. MacCready didn’t understand what she was writing and didn’t mind it, but Nick took a deep breath and nodded.

“Alright. Misses, thank you for your service. We have a road ahead of us.” Nick said, accommodating his trench coat before heading out the settlement.

Jane bowed to Bluebird and smiled. “Greetings for those above” she said.

Those words stuck in MacCready’s mind. It was like something was waiting for them.

The three of them left Oberland Station far behind as they followed the train rails. Nick was unusually quiet, looking down to his feet and would probably have both of his hands in his pockets if he weren’t carrying the tatos. MacCready felt he had to do something. Bluebird couldn’t do much while travelling, only giving simple commands was between her few options. She had tried to stop Nick a few times, nonetheless, he refused every time. MacCready sighed and patted Bluebird’s shoulder.

“Leave this to me boss.” He trotted to Nick’s side and quietly walked next to him.

Nick looked over his shoulders and rolled his eyes. MacCready struggled with what to say, nothing came to his mind! Just _great_ . He sure was doing it _so well_.

“Err… I, uh…” MacCready was muttering, trying to put words together.

“Got something funny to say, MacCready? Cuz’ you always do,” Nick sharply snapped, interrupting him.

MacCready took a deep breath and placed his hands on his pockets. “Look, I’m just tryin’ to be f-ing nice, okay? For once. You look like crap.”

“Because I’m falling apart like you always say? That I could not take another fucking bullet?”

MacCready clenched his jaw and gave him an angry look. “No. The kid back there didn’t seem to like you. You noticed and pretended you didn’t. Just… don’t let it get to you… Tch.” He shrugged and looked away.

Nick raised his eyebrows and stared MacCready with wide eyes. He laughed and shook his head.

“MacCready worried? This is certainly something new, not expected of someone with little temper… However, don’t mind it, I’m used to it. People being wary, scared of what I am but not for who I really am… _if I can be considered “anyone”, of course._ ”

☼●●●☼

After an hour or two, they were still following the train rails. The sun had come down and the sky was painted with dark blue and stars—a sight that never tired MacCready. Nonetheless, he preferred to not travel at night. He was paranoid enough during the day! For god’s sake. The wind was the same, but with the sun gone, everything had become colder. Nick still looked like he had received a punch in his mechanical gut and Bluebird seemed to be tired. MacCready warmed his hands with his breath and rubbed them together, cursing the cold winds of autumn.

MacCready silently observed Bluebird and her dainty figure, her black hair and how the color of the sky suited the one of her skin. He sighed and walked to her side.

“We need to set camp, it’s too dangerous to be out in the open at these hours,” he told Bluebird.

She nodded in agreement and showed MacCready the machine in her arm. He leaned over her shoulder and looked at the screen that showed a map and the route they were supposed to follow, however, this time the line was shorter and set somewhere not too far from the arrow in the middle—their position. He raised a brow as he tried to read the strange characters that in the end, he did not understand at all. When he saw they were getting closer and closer, he looked at the horizon and saw a building with lights.

“I guess that’s our stop.”

The three of them arrived at the greenhouse at the hills under the highway. They left behind the train rails and walked into the strange building. There was something strange about that place. There were far too many Mr. Handies to MacCready’s liking that happily received Bluebird at Graygarden—the name of the settlement ran by only robots. They had set a couple of sleep bags next to each other inside the greenhouse and a big blanket.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t arrange anything else, darling. These are the only decent things we’ve found in the nearby areas… But glad we managed to clean them up with actual _decent_ water, Supervisor White”. White told Bluebird.

Bluebird handed to Supervisor White a letter she had quickly written to her, which she carefully took with one of her long mechanical extremities and read it out loud.

“Supervisor White, do not worry. I’m glad we are able to stay here with you. Nonetheless, have you considered my offer? It’s important to me,” the robot with a female and sassy personality read with joy. “Oh, _darling_. We have considered your offer. However, it breaks with some of our protocols… But again, I’m tired of living in this mud-hole and hopefully I’m not the only one thinking like this.”

MacCready felt the creeps when Supervisor White said “darling” and messed around, did like he was shivering and opened his mouth in a strange and funny way. Nick laughed and told the peculiar Mr. Handy how well and tidy the place was. The hired gun thought it was no coincidence they had stumbled upon settlements in order, neat and tidy. Something in the Commonwealth was changing, and apparently, the mysterious woman was the cause of it—or part of it.

MacCready was still wondering who she truly was. She was tranquil, serene and yet managed to be fierce—but she only minded her own business. She rarely made questions at all, other than to work for her or the other way around. There were lots of loose ends but nothing to actually know. MacCready knew his policy: no questions. But something curiosity gnawed him to death. He was more of a dog person, but if he was the cat in the idiom—curiosity had already killed him.

MacCready decided to start making questions.

The robots were working outside the greenhouse, attending the mutfruit plantation outdoors like they always seemed to do—and probably have always done so. And Nick didn’t need to sleep at all; he was quietly smoking a cigarette outside next to the door. Bluebird was soundly sleeping next to MacCready, taking the rest she had denied for herself. He caressed her hair and stood up.

There were some individuals he could ask. There were the three supervisors, Greene, Brown and White, and then there was Nick. He first headed to Supervisor White and tried to persuade her. She was, as her rank said, supervising the other Mr. Handies and the crops. MacCready approached her slowly with his hands on his pockets and his head high trying to look confident.

“Hi,” he greeted awkwardly.

Supervisor White turned around and let a soundly and robotic gasp.

“Hello, darling,” she said with an enticing tone.

MacCready cleared his throat. “I wanted to know some things, so… uh, I wanted to ask some questions.”

“Sure, whatever you want to ask darling.”

“What you guys doin’ here?” He first wanted to become more familiar with her than just jump into asking questions about Bluebird.

Supervisor White’s robotic pupils dilated and looked at MacCready and felt how she happily sighed.

“This is the Commonwealth’s first and only hydroponics facility run _entirely_ by robots.”

“Aren’t there any humans?”

“That’s right, darling. We’re entirely self-sufficient, with no need of human guidance.”

He raised a brow in disbelief. “Don’t you need a human? Like, to program you or something like that.”

“That’s where Graygarden it’s unique, darling.”

Supervisor White proceeded to explain to him how they operated—under a hierarchy and how there were two kinds of robot: drones for maintenance and the supervisors, that had unique personalities, and explained how their social structure allowed them to constantly operate. MacCready let a sigh escape through his lips and placed his arms on his hips.

“Robots working on a farm, huh? I think I’ve seen almost everything.” MacCready took a step closer to her. “And I was wondering, what do you think about my boss’ proposal? It sure is tempting, right?”

The best way to gain information is to fake that you know it. Fake it til’ you make it. Supervisor White laughed and looked around.

“Of course, it’s tempting. Working for her would be one of my greatest pleasures, working with a vault machinery—hold up for a second,” she realized what she was saying and stopped herself for a second “, you are _the new guy_. You’re not supposed to know, sorry, I… uh, I’ll get back to work!” Supervisor White muttered quickly and ran off to keep doing her work, alerting the other supervisors.

MacCready cursed to himself. Did she not want him to know? There was something off about all this. The only one left to ask was no one else than Nick Valentine. He did not want to ask him, but there were no other options. He approached Nick and rested his head on the glass behind him. He took out a cigarette and held it between his fingers.

“Could you?” he asked Nick, insinuating him to light it up for him.

“Sure.”

Nick lit it up with his own cigarette and gave it to MacCready. MacCready inhaled deeply and felt a sore in his throat, accompanied with the immediate relaxation effect. He let the smoke out through his mouth and tilted his head to look at the bright full moon.

“Can’t sleep, MacCready?”

MacCready shook his head. He needed to ask the right questions. He played with the cigarette, lingering it around his fingers like a professional to ease his nervousness. Scouting information wasn’t his favorite part of the job—damn, it wasn’t work but curiosity, but he hated it.

“Are you… uh, feeling better?” Nick wondered.

“Yeah. Like I told you back then, I’m used to it.” Nick placed the cigarette between his lips and moved his mouth like he was breathing the smoke.

“Can you really smoke that?”

Nick shook his head. “Nah. It’s just that I have this ol’ habit, I’ve tried to leave it, trust me. But I just… can’t,” he said as he grinned with a sadness in his eyes.

“I smoke since I was fifteen or sixteen, and grabbed my first drink when I was twelve and never looked back.” MacCready admitted.

“Did your parents let you do that?” Nick questioned with surprise.

MacCready smirked and looked at his feet. “No, never met ‘em. Grew up with a bunch of other kids in Capital Wasteland. In a cave.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what? You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

Nick sighed and looked at MacCready.

“I behaved like an asshole when the caravan thing. But the truth is that those folks could have used our help and that you were an imbecile—”

“Watch it,” MacCready snapped “. I know what I am, okay? I won’t apologize to you for what I said and did. I had my reasons for that. And I don’t deserve anything, like you said. And probably never will deserve anything in this life.”

MacCready took another breath of smoke that then he let out through his nose, as if he was some kind of angry bull. Nick kept quiet, not knowing what to say to MacCready, and both silently gazed at the sky for a while until Nick broke the silence.

“She’s sleeping so peacefully,” he said.

It was the perfect moment. MacCready bent one of his legs and scratched his forehead.

“She’s just getting the rest she needs. The doctor said—”

“I know what Doctor Sun said.” Nick interrupted.

“Okay, but it’s what she needs. She’s been neglecting the rest she must take with that deep wound.”

“You’re right. But when life hits you real’ hard, you just… get lost.”

MacCready remembered the time he lost his wife, Lucy. She was the light of his life in all the darkness of the world. He recalled the time he gifted her a beautiful cream dress in Diamond City and how she modelled it for him, cheerfully laughing at his bad jokes and puns. Her laugh was one of the things he missed and remembered the most. When MacCready lost her, it was hell on earth.

“I know.”

“She’s looking for vengeance and her child, you know that, right?”

MacCready nodded.

“But what happened to her?” MacCready inquired.

“I don’t know all the details, but she was… frozen. Where? In a vault. She saw how her husband was murdered in front of her eyes and how they took her child. From the investigation we did back in Diamond City, it’s the ol’ Kellogg who did it. He’s the only one who fits the profile.”

Everything except the frozen thing, he knew it. He wanted to know more.

“Damn, I don’t know shi—crap” MacCready corrected himself “, I don’t even know her goddamn name!” he cursed.

Nick placed his arm on MacCready's shoulder and slowly shook his head.

“So far, nobody knows. It’s incredible that everyone we have stumbled with so far, they know her, but none by her name. They call her miss, missy, and even we refer to her as boss. I heard you once called her Bluebird but, why?”

MacCready turned red in shame. “I, uh… It’s a nickname.”

Nick laughed and looked at the sky. “At least it’s a pretty nickname. Bluebird.” Nick played with his fingers the smoke that slowly came out of his almost done cigarette.

“And frozen? How’s that even possible?!”

“You know vault-tec… creepy bastards that toyed with those in search of salvation. That’s beyond my knowledge.”

MacCready threw his cigarette to the floor and smashed it with his shoe. “Thank you for the talk, but I’ll head to bed.”

MacCready headed inside and tucked himself next to Bluebird in his own sleeping bag. He stared at the glass ceiling and started to wonder if he ever was going to be the man he told his son he would be: a good one. But that seemed to be so far away.

Bluebird tossed in her sleep and turned to MacCready’s side. Her face was a few inches away and he could feel her breath on his skin. Her black hair fell over her face and over her long bangs laid lazily around her shoulders. He watched the piercings she had on her ears and smiled. He liked them. She was the biggest mystery. How could she be frozen and what did it mean? Her enigmatic tattoo and the picture she kept with herself all the time in her boots. The greatest intrigue in the Commonwealth, the one with no name.

He looked at Bluebird with eager curiosity, wondering how her voice was if she actually had one and her true, given name. But most importantly, he wanted to know why she did not want him to know about the supposed offer she had made to the robots in Graygarden. All he had managed to obtain was that it was to work in the machinery of some vault, was it in the one she came from?

“Just, who the fuck are you?” MacCready whispered to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Keith here. You can leave a comment or a kudo if you liked what you read, it motivates me to keep writing!
> 
> I have an Instagram (@Dainty.Keith) and a wattpad (@DaintyKeith) accounts if you're interested to see my drawings or other writing work (in spanish! English coming soon).
> 
> Thank you so much for reading this update, see ya' in the next one (❁´◡`❁)


	7. The Song He Had Never Heard Before (Me & You)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! Keith here.
> 
> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in 2 months. This chapter was a real challenge for me and senior year ain't been easy on me ever since October 1st buy hey, Christmas Vacations coming up ヾ(≧▽≦*)o 
> 
> I thank you for all your support. Your kudos, your comments and feedback have made me keep trying and reminded me that it isn't over yet. 
> 
> You are out there, somewhere in the world reading my words and every time you comment or interact with me, I NOTICE YOU! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ) Each one of you. 
> 
> And hey! I have tumblr now~~ daintykeith is my main account and my sideblog is idaintykeith, I'm more active in my sideblog.
> 
> P.S. This chapter is longer but there's a lot going on to compensate it ψ(｀∇´)ψ

After another day of travel, they left behind Graygarden and its mysteries and arrived to their destination. Beyond the bridge they had to cross, there were a couple of guards standing in front of the gate accompanied by a dozen of turrets. _Holy shit_ , that was a barbaric and yet detailed security system—nothing bad for the new trading post in the Commonwealth.

The guards looked at them and one of them slowly walked to them, pointing his gun to them.

“What’s yer’ business in town?” the guard questioned.

MacCready let out a long and exhausted sigh. He already had had his fair share of shitty-guards-with-nothing-else-to-do across the Commonwealth.

“Just looking for a friend,” Nick replied, tipping his hat to greet him.

The guard’s eyes filled with hatred and fear as he glanced at Nick, the machine, the _synth_ , like he had seen a murderer being trialed. He spat on Nick’s feet and pointed his gun to him. Short-tempered, rash, irrationally—the qualities this guard showed. This wasn’t the first time Nick wasn’t welcomed, damn, not even in his own city he was truly trusted. MacCready’s blood boiled and he scowled.

“The hell you’re doing?” MacCready spoke, loud and with anger.

“Protectin’ town like I’m supposed to,” the guard firmly held his gun and placed his finger on the trigger. “You synths have taken everything for yourselves and pretend to be one of us, pretend you are victims.”

Nick raised his hands in defense. “I ain’t pretending to be nobody, I am a _machine_.”

Machine.

Something clicked in MacCready’s mind. The way Nick had said it sounded more like he was talking garbage about himself, but the guard’s selfishness was something he couldn’t stand. MacCready knew that Nick could stand up for himself, throughout their journey he had seen it clearly and yet he hadn’t truly noticed how often it really happened and how he was used to it.

“Put your gun down,” MacCready demanded in a tired scowl. “We just looking for a friend.”

The other guard was dozing off until he laid his eyes on Bluebird. They opened with fear and yelled to the guard that was aiming at Nick.

“The hell yer’ doing?!”

“I’m dealing with a synth,” the guard frowned without fear.

“Yeah but—"

In a swift movement, Bluebird took out a classic 10mm pistol and shot at the guard’s foot without hesitation. He screamed in pain and looked at Bluebird with a burning rage and red face.

“Holy shit! What the hell…” he was cursing when his face suddenly became dead pale. He had realized who _she_ was. He fell to his knees due to the strong pain in his foot.

The other guy stood straight and did a military-like salute. “Welcome home, madam!” the guard steadily said.

Madam, Miss, Little Miss, Boss, Bluebird. She had so many names and every time someone called it was with respect—except the other time she got called little bitch, but well, you get the point—.

Nick was speechless, he exuded anger, disapproval of her action; but MacCready, on the other hand, was impressed. Bluebird didn’t take bullshit, not there. However, MacCready _knew_ it was strange how people greeted her, but didn’t know the reason why. The way they talked and acted towards her. The girls back at Oberland Station and Supervisor White in Graygarden treated her with respect, but not one as equals. Like she had some kind of authority.

Bluebird extended her hand to the guard on the ground and helped him stand up, passing his arm over her shoulder to help him walk. She nodded to the other guard who opened the gate for them.

“Welcome to the haven for sinners, Sanctuary Hills.”

In the dark night, everything looked different of how they truly were, however, it was a strange kind of beauty. There were two and three floor wooden buildings, apartments that took place over what seemed to be pre-war houses, and the dim yellow light from the lightbulbs hung all around illuminated the streets.

It was like a small Diamond City, but with no big walls and _actually_ greener. The lanes were pretty clean and most of the buildings were a business—a general store, bar, hotel, restaurant, school and even a strip club (associated with the bar, of course). Most of the shops were set in the plaza, a roundabout with a wide and big tree on the center from which bottles with lights hung all over it, making a beautiful sight; the rest of the buildings were residence.

The security was tight, strict, and there was even a jail. Unlike the scum they had met outside, the guards were serious but caring of what happened in town. They kept order. Sanctuary Hills had the best security MacCready had ever seen, they were armed to their teeth and didn’t fool around.

The three of them entered the town, taking the wounded guard to the doctor’s office in the plaza. As they were walking, a house caught MacCready’s dark blue eyes attention. Unlike the other ones that had been altered, that one was untouched and uninhabited. He wondered what was that place, raising his brows as they left the guard at the doctor’s office and walked together into the restaurant. They were welcomed by an old man who had a peculiar mustache that MacCready found funny. Nick greeted the older man tipping his hat and, surprisingly, got greeted back joyfully with a warm smile. Nick’s eyes glimmered with hope for a second, in another light than the ones behind his golden globes.

“Welcome home, madam!” the old man said with a wide grin. “What can I get you? The usual?” He had interesting mannerisms. He fidgeted his hands and couldn’t stop moving his feet, like he didn’t like to stand still. And his smile made MacCready feel a warmth, he knew that kind of men usually were the ones to live the longest.

Bluebird shook her head.

“Oh,” his lips parted and his brows shot up in genuine surprise. “Then here’s the menu. The tab is on the house,” he winked his eye to her and rushed back to the kitchen after giving her a menu.

The restaurant had a lively atmosphere. There were colorful signs everywhere and a jukebox played songs he had never heard before. Bluebird and MacCready were sitting next to each other and Nick was sitting on the other side of the table.

“I’ll have nothing, as usual,” Nick said as he lighted a cigarette and held it between his fingers, playing with the lingering smoke.

MacCready tapped his hand on the table and looked at Bluebird. She was grinning, happily revising the list. Unlike the previous days, she appeared to be happy—her cheeks were rose and her long bangs that usually fell gracefully behind her ears were now at the sides of her face. She looked beautiful, indisputably gorgeous.

MacCready’s heart skipped a beat and his eyes wandered on her small and delicate hands. He noticed that the tips of her fingers were calloused and that she had a small scar on her right hand near the thumb. He tilted his head over her shoulder and tried to read the menu. He brushed against her shoulder and slightly pressed the side of his head to hers. It was amusing. She was small and he enjoyed the situations where he could have control, no, where he felt he could have it. He passed his left arm over her shoulder and traced his fingers over the paper, reading each line that contained a wide variety of food.

“I think I’ll have a Brahmin meat soup…” MacCready whispered to her ear.

Bluebird thought a little bit longer and placed her finger on what said: “ _Yao Guai ribs_ ”. It was the first time the mercenary saw such variety in a restaurant or even a bar that were visited more often; it pleased him.

MacCready smiled and breathed on her cheek. “Then that’ll be,” he muttered with a husky voice.

Nick cleared his throat and looked at MacCready with no surprise in his face.

What a fool he must have made of himself, he thought. MacCready’s cheeks were red, or worse, burning hot. Like, _real hot_. He distanced himself from Bluebird and started to tap the table with his fingers, like he would usually do when he was stressed or nervous. He cursed himself for being an idiot, how could he do something like that?

Bluebird raised her gaze and placed it with noticeable curiosity upon Nick, who looked like he had something to say.

“We need to talk,” Nick stated.

Oh god. Was Nick going to tell him _the_ _obvious_? MacCready prayed for anything but that. No, was _the obvious_ a real thing in the first place? Absolutely not—or so MacCready told himself. Nick intertwined his fingers and rested his elbows on the table, relaxing his shoulders and slightly tilting his head closer to them.

“I ain’t happy with the way you’ve been treatin’ folk,” Nick drops like a bomb. He gulps and gives Bluebird a frustrated glance. “You both. It’s not right.”

MacCready would have mocked Nick with a cracked joke or sarcasm like he would usually do, but that time was different. Nick meant what he said. MacCready watched silently as he kept talking, believing he deserved the respect so many have denied him through their travel.

“Folk around have had enough of this shitty and unforgiving world. They need help more than ever and so do you. I understand if you don’t want to, but I won’t watch silently other people suffer because your choices. Look at what happened to the kid; he was doing his job! He didn’t deserve a bullet in his foot. Lay off the heavy hand when you’re dealing with people, especially since you aren’t really talkative, _madam_. There are more ways to solve a problem.”

Bluebird shyly looked away, ashamed. It was like Nick had crushed one of the walls the Wasteland had created in her, revealing the blues and gray of her true self. A long minute was spent in a tense and uncomfortable silence.

Certainly, they weren’t the perfect trio—instead, they were a bunch of misfits that had been united by the mysteries of life: a nameless madam, a synthetic detective and a mercenary (formerly a gunner). It couldn’t be stranger, couldn’t it? Oh right, the dog would also join the team.

As they were contemplating each other’s long faces, MacCready stood up and looked away, feeling the pressure running through his body like a heavy anchorage. He wanted to take a break.

“I’ll go take a quick smoke,” he whispered. “And Nick, come with me or drop the cig. She doesn’t like it.”

Nick gasped as he remembered. “Oh crap. I’m sorry, you know it’s—”

“It’s an old habit like my old engines,” MacCready interrupted as he sarcastically quoted with his hands and grinned, imitating Nick’s voice. “Come on, Nick.”

Both men walked outside the restaurant and laid their backs on the wall next to the entrance and quietly smoked their cigarettes. MacCready could tell by Nick’s expression that he was sad and confused, contemplating the lingering smoke escaping between his hands, and he knew that he had to do something; but MacCready was the kind of people who, in fact, didn’t care about talking. Shoot and then ask. He couldn’t find the words he wanted to say.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Nick whispered as he placed the cig between his lips.

MacCready sighed and looked at his feet. What a mess.

When Nick’s cigarette was more than done, the synth tipped his hat. “I’ll head into town, see what this is about.”

He nodded and Valentine headed off into the other side of town, entering the first store that was in sight. MacCready adjusted his duster, dropped the cig and stomped it. He needed to be mentally prepared to face Bluebird alone; his mind was stormed with her touch on his skin and her crying in the night at Dugout Inn, her smell and slim body. It would be their first time alone since _that_ night.

He inhaled deeply and walked back into the restaurant. His hands were shaking and his legs didn’t want to walk straight, but he fought with all his will his way through to sit on their table. As his dumb feet walked, he saw Bluebird cooping something in her hands. He didn’t mean to intrude, but his eyes wandered through what she held and noticed it was the picture she had in her boot.

MacCready gulped. Bluebird was contemplating the guy in the picture—probably her husband; _dead_ husband. He slowed his pace and quietly sat next to her. She flinched and quickly tried to hide the picture away under her legs, her eyes were exalted and she was nervously moving her hands around without knowing what to do with them.

“Er… don’t be embarrassed,” MacCready muttered. “I got my secrets too, I promise,” he reassured her.

Bluebird shrugged and looked down. She tried to adjust the raven messy hairlocks that lingered across her cheeks, but her numb fingers didn’t seem to get it right. MacCready wasn’t known for his tenderness, but he moved his hand gently and carefully placed her hair behind her ear, like she would always have it.

“What is worrying you, _angel_?” He knew it broke his policy and he cursed himself for doing it, but the burning worry in her gaze startled him deep to his core. He wanted to know why she was like that.

Her cheeks burnt bright red and she turned her gaze into his, looking through her lashes with embarrassment. However, it didn’t stop her from hitting MacCready with her elbow on the ribs, pouting out her lips as if she was angry.

“It ain’t something to be embarrassed about, I… uh,” MacCready was trying to find the words, but utterly failed on it.

There was a long pregnant silence. MacCready was struggling to amend the situation, babbling nonsense one after the other. Nonetheless, in a blink of an eye, Bluebird was writing on a piece of paper that she quickly handed to him. When was the last time she had written him a letter?

“ _How are you?_ ” the letter said in a quick and messy handwriting.

It was a simple question and yet he felt butterfly in his stomach, emotions making his imagination and heartbeat go wild.

“You could say I’m just doing peachy,” he bitterly chuckled, remembering their strange trip to the so-called Sanctuary Hills.

MacCready was going through a lot. The way Nick’s glowing yellow eyes looked at the world had unsettled him, shaken his ground. He usually didn’t care for what other people had to say, or judge, about him but even if Nick was a machine—a synthetic _human_ —he had managed to be more humane than mankind itself. The thought of Supervisor White telling him that he shouldn’t know about the offer Bluebird had made him feel left aside, excluded, but when it comes to Bluebird and her mysteries, things will never go straight-forward.

“Could be better” he muttered.

Bluebird leaned in and looked at him in the eye with an undeniable concern in hers, an unfading worry. She grabbed the letter and messily wrote on it: “ _You too?_ ”

MacCready bit his lip and stood quiet for a few seconds.

“No” he finally said, “I ain’t mad. I’m just disappointed.”

MacCready was many things, but being reminded that he wasn’t the only one hurt like hell. _Folk around have had enough of this shitty and unforgiving world_ , Nick had said. His world had been slowly crumbling into small pieces and he still had to care for everyone else. It was so complicated

“ _Why?_ ”

“I… don’t know how to explain it, it’s…” he fidgeted with his hands, avoiding her gaze. “I mean, I’m not disappointed of you, but myself. A long time ago, I promised someone I was going to be better—a better person, and everything I’ve done is fail at it so, so badly.”

He didn’t feel like himself but alienated of his persona. Life had always been hard on him and there was nothing he could do about it other than _trying_ to survive. He was pretty much screwed and done with years ago—probably ever since he was a kid—but kept living despite the odds against him.

“ _So did I. A long time ago._ ” 

Who did she make the promise to? MacCready wondered once again about Bluebird’s past. A dead man, a child, a rotten world that made him ask himself how the world hadn’t shattered her yet. She remained as the biggest mystery in his mind that played him like a fiddle, making him things he never thought someone else could do to him.

The room had grown quieter, lonelier, and Bluebird seemed to have a question on her throat that never made it out to the world, kept to herself and dying in her, and the music had become their only company. It wasn’t long until MacCready’s deep blue eyes saw remorse in hers, only to find out that it was no other thing that his own reflection. Maybe they were more similar than he thought, and that scared him.

Startled, he rested his head on the back of the seat and attempted to relax his posture.

He wanted to ask about the picture, her past, but had a feeling in his gut that she wouldn’t answer so, instead, he chose to take a different approach. One that he never imagined himself in.

A soft and mellow melody played in the sudden emptiness of the room and no other soul than theirs were there. Following the plan that had popped into his mind, he stood up and with little elegance extended a hand to Bluebird, adverting his gaze to any other place but her to hide his embarrassment.

“Er… wanna dance?”

He couldn’t believe he was asking her to dance, probably she was going to reject him—or worse! Leave him there, standing like a goddamn fool. His cheeks burned bright red and his hand trembled with nervousness. She was definitively going to reject him.

Soft skin climbed his fingers and a small hand intertwined with his. MacCready looked at her and her pitch-black eyes were beautifully staring at him through her lashes. They had a shine he thought he would never see again in this world. A warmth pooled in his stomach and her touch burned his skin like embers, falling tender on his hand. Bluebird was looking at his soul through his blue steel eyes.

The song echoed in the room, accompanied by heavy and nervous breathing. He didn’t have any words to say and neither did she—not that she could say any of course. While MacCready was lost in a haze of emotion, Bluebird led him to a wide-open space next to the jukebox. She threw her ammo belt and holster to the floor and placed MacCready’s hand on her waist. When it came to deal with women, dancing to a song he had never heard was the craziest—and probably worse—idea he had ever come up with, but he had to make the most of it.

He was just going to make the greatest fool of himself, and somehow, it wasn’t the most important thing. He placed his other hand on her hand and brought her closer to his chest. Bluebird breathed through her nose and raised a brow, tilting her head to look at his face. She knew that he didn’t know how to dance so well.

MacCready let out a dry laugh and smirked. He was going to screw it up.

They started to slowly swing to the lonely guitar that played.

“You…” MacCready whispered close to her ear, “look pretty, er… tonight.”

She smiled and intertwined her fingers with his.

From up close, he could see her dark circles under her eyes and how messy her hair truly was. She was tired and somehow, she managed to grin like she was the happiest woman in the world. His heart roared in his chest like a lion, a beast yelling to the world how nervous he was. They were so close that he felt her breathing on his neck and he could swear that she was listening to his heartbeat.

He stepped on her foot a few times, but Bluebird didn’t mind it. After all, they were alone and it didn’t matter.

She didn’t have any paper to talk, but her expressions alone said more than a thousand words. Her head tilted, looking at him like there nothing else to worry about. All worries had faded away with the tune that had honeyed their minds. They had been put under a spell.

“Is this your home?”

She nodded but then moved her head to the sides, like saying: “ _Maybe_ ”.

“Why is that?” MacCready extended his arm and made her twirl. “You ain’t from these parts?”

Bluebird huffed and made a sad smile. She shook her head.

“Me neither” he admitted, “I’m from Capital Wasteland.”

She looked at him with curiosity, like she wanted to know more. Giving him her full attention. They moved, side to side, like leaves of a light breeze. His eyes couldn’t leave hers, hypnotized like a fool, a happy fool. His hand slightly squeezed her waist and whispered:

“It’s quite far from here—really far. I grew up in a cave, Little Lamplight it was called. Bunch of kids, _crazy_ kids trying to survive. We all had to leave when we turned sixteen, _mungos_ were not to be trusted.”

Bluebird made a muffled laugh and arched her brows. She thought the word _mungos_ was strange.

MacCready chuckled. “And well, when I hit sixteen, I wandered on my own until I found my way to the Commonwealth and became a gunner; I think you saw how that turned out and here I am.”

He sighed.

“That’s my life in a nutshell,” he admitted.

The heat that her body exuded made him feel alive, reminding him how long it had been since he last danced—something he thought he would never do again. His gaze encountered the mysterious tattoo that peeked over her blue vault-suit and thought about the flowers that lingered all over her skin.

A sparkle in her eyes shone like embers, longing to embrace the fire in her heart that couldn’t be put out by the waters of fear and doubt. A flame that burned with intensity as if it was alive.

Oh dear, MacCready had forgotten what dancing felt like. How being _held_ felt. Bluebird felt delicate, warm in his arms.

“I know I should have asked earlier but, how are you?” He muttered tenderly. He stepped on her foot again and apologized in quick whisper.

“How are you feeling?” His cheeks burned bright red in embarrassment.

She closed her eyes and shrugged; not wanting to be honest about it. MacCready raised a brow and held her hand tighter.

“This isn’t like me, I’m no babysitter and shouldn’t need to be reminding you that you need to rest, _little_ _angel_.” MacCready purred to her ear.

His breath and words turned her skin into crimson red. Bluebird adverted her gaze and nervously smirked. They swung to the soft and hypnotizing melody, taking one step further and one step back. MacCready blushed every time her soft chest brushed against his.

“ _I know_ ” MacCready imagined in his mind as she amusedly looked at him with some tenderness in her gaze.

She made him turn elegantly, both bodies in tune with the slow music. It pleasantly surprised MacCready—he was supposed to be the one leading and yet, somehow, she had managed to take control over their dance. There was a sort of harshness in him that Bluebird found entertaining, feeling his rough and indelicate hands. Amused, Bluebird rested her head between his neck and shoulder and MacCready felt how she smiled on his skin.

MacCready suffered the agony from the thought of how unreal everything was. The feeling of her nose and face in his skin and how relaxed she was in his arms. For some strange reason beyond his comprehension, he was happy. He remembered the night of the storm, all wet because of the rain and holding each other’s hands as Bluebird quietly sobbed in the dark. The question of why was she crying traced his mind with curiosity.

The hand MacCready had on her waist travelled across the curves of her slim body to her hip and brought her body closer to him. Bluebird gasped in surprise and responded with a tighter grip on MacCready’s shoulder, but didn’t pull away his hand.

“ _What am I doing?_ ” MacCready thought as he buried his face on her hair “ _, what are we doing?_ ”

A memory passed over his eyes like life in those who were on the verge of death. Emotions overwhelmed him like a riptide that didn’t want him to breath ever again only to remain at the bottom of the sea. It was Lucy, her soft and long brown hair and those hazel eyes that had pierced his heart when he was just teenager. He remembered the stars on her cheeks he always kissed so tenderly and the dances they’ve had in the middle of nowhere. More memories tried to overrun him, but he fought with all his strengths to remain in the moment. MacCready knew he had to move on, some part of him had already done so, but it was hard to not look back and see everything he had lost and yet so easy to lose sight of what he—literally—had on his hands in the present. It was nostalgia what he felt.

Lucy died when Duncan was only a few months old and his memories of her were slowly fading away in the light of time, but in moments like that one they came altogether like the fucking tornado. His storm calmed down when Bluebird caressed his shoulder with her thumb. She was looking at him with worried and sorry eyes. The finger tapped on his shoulder and her brows frowned a little, concerned about him.

“I’m okay;” he whispered with a sweet lie, “I promise.”

MacCready guided her across the room as if they were in a world of their own, not having to worry even about themselves. They were hugging, slow-dancing under the restaurant’s dim lights to the lonely and sweet melody. His body relaxed, the peace they needed so desperately had come in a strange package in such an unusual hour.

That moment, before the music ended, he learnt that he would never forget the smell of Bluebird’s raven hair or how she felt in his arms, but more importantly, that Lucy still wandered in his mind like a ghost, haunting him with blissful memories long gone he wanted to move on from.

MacCready was such a gentleman that he led her to her seat without letting go of her hand.

“Did you like it?” he asked as he laughed to himself and threw his head back.

She smirked, moved her hand sideways and held an amused gaze on him. She crinkled her eyes and soundlessly laughed. After considering it, she excitedly shook her head, stiffing her body in the act.

“What? You didn’t like my unique and awesome movements on the dance floor? You’ve gotta be kidding!” MacCready snorted as he pretended to be offended.

He leaned in and rested his elbows on the table, took one of the bullets of his hat and started to fidget it skillfully across his fingers.

“Thought I could have even charmed a tiger,” he adds, teasing her in a soft murmur with a smirk on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm making an AMA for this fanfic in my tumblr (daintykeith). So if you have any question about Bluebird, MacCready, Nick or anything about Love Gun, hit me with your questions!

**Author's Note:**

> So here's a friendly reminder. All future culture references are merely fiction and are not to be taken seriously. It doesn't intent to offend anyone and neither to appropiate a culture (which is not yet revealed because i do not want to spoil the story). Thank you!


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